Chicago wheat futures soars to near-14 month high as global crop outlook dims

Chicago wheat futures surged on Friday to the highest level in nearly a 14-month high on speculations that the global wheat crop would be smaller than last year's, due to the adverse weather in exporting countries including Russia and Canada. Corn and soybean rode on wheat's coattails to post their third straight day of gains.

September wheat surged 34.0 cents, or 5.4 percent, to 6.615 U.S. dollars per bushel. December corn climbed 13.0 cents, or 3.3 percent, to 4.0675 dollars per bushel. November soybean rose 17.0 cents, or 1.7 percent, to 10.05 dollars per bushel.

The Canadian Wheat Board said in a report on Friday that Canada, the major wheat exporter will produce 15.6 million tons of spring wheat, which is 17 percent lower than a year ago, as excessive rains hampered seeding and caused severe damage to the crops in the past three month. The International Grains Council said Russia's wheat harvest will fell 19 percent to 50 millions tons this year, blaming the record high temperature and persisting droughts, which has plagued Russian crops.

Wheat also rose on speculation that Egypt and Brazil, the largest and second largest importers of wheat would diverted their sourcing from Russia to U.S.. The wheat prices have jumped 9.6 percent this week and 36 percent in July.

Trader noted that the soaring wheat price, along with weaker dollar and robust export sale data all contributed to lift corn and soybean prices.

Source: Xinhua