World grain market: wheat and corn fell in price on Monday, soybeans increased in price

On Monday, December 11, 2023, wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell sharply. At the end of the trading day, March soft winter wheat quotes on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange CBOT fell to $223.95 per ton, March hard winter wheat KCBT futures in Kansas City - to $232.31 per ton, March hard spring wheat futures MGEX in Minneapolis - to $261.52 per ton.

Wheat futures fell sharply after rising to a four-month high last week, while corn futures also fell, under pressure from weaker wheat.

Chicago wheat fell Monday from last week's four-month highs as investment funds showed little sign of breaking bearish positions despite the largest U.S. wheat sales to China in years.

U.S. soybean futures rose on Monday amid renewed concerns that drought in Brazil is hurting crops and after the U.S. government announced more export sales.

March wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade fell 3.5% to $6.09-1/2 a bushel. January soybean futures rose 2.5% to $13.36 a bushel, while March corn fell 0.8% to $4.81-1/2 a bushel.

The sale of 1,120,000 metric tons of US wheat to China last week pushed Chicago prices higher.

Speculators and funds are holding historically large net short positions in wheat and are showing no signs of making large purchases to exit positions, traders said. Also weighing on wheat was the possibility that large sales of U.S. wheat to China last week will not continue into this week, analysts said.

The market is also monitoring the demand for wheat in connection with new tenders for the purchase of it by Algeria and Tunisia.

The USDA confirmed private sales of 132,000 tons of U.S. soybeans for delivery to undisclosed destinations in the 2023/24 marketing year, which began Sept. 1.

At the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) on Monday, contracts for delivery in December, January:

wheat (March 2023) - 223.95 dollars/t (20520 rubles/t) - minus 3.52%;
corn (March 2023) - $189.57/t (RUB 17,370/t) - minus 0.82%;
soybeans (Jan. 2023) - 490.89 dollars/t (44990 rub./t) - plus 2.45%;
rice January (Jan 2023) - 837.33 USD/t (76,730 RUB/t) - plus 0.29%;
rapeseed (ICE, Jan. 2023) - 673.10 cad/t (45,370 rub./t) - plus 1.98%.

The French grain market declined on Monday. At the end of the trading day, March quotes for milling wheat on the Parisian MATIF exchange dropped to €228.25 per ton (in dollar equivalent - to $245.62). March corn quotes dropped to €201.00 per ton (in dollar equivalent - to $216.30).

On the Paris Exchange (MATIF) on Monday, quotes for December and March contracts at the closing of trading were:

milling wheat (DCBR 2023) - 245.62 dollars/t (22510 rubles/t) - minus 1.16%;
corn (March 2023) - $216.30/t (RUB 18,420/t) - minus 0.41%;
sunflower (Dec. on the SAFEX exchange - 9250.00 zar./t (45140 rub./t) minus 0.64%;
sunflower oil (nbr. Rotterdam, bulk FOB) - 945.00 USD/t (86,600 RUB/t) minus 2.07%.

For reference, exchange rates as of 12/11/2023:
91.6402 rub. = US dollar
98.8402 rub. = Euro
RUB 67.3974 = Canadian dollar
RUB 48.6638 = 10 South African rand