Despite the heavy rainfall in the US wheat growing areas, the US wheat price shed nearly 4.5% yesterday to close at 493 US cents per bushel – the first time in two weeks that it has fallen below the 500 US cents per bushel mark. On the one hand, the US dollar has gained considerably in value in the past few days of trading, which is also weighing on the prices of agriculturals. On the other hand, the sowing and plant condition figures which were only published on Tuesday by the US Department of Agriculture because of the public holiday on Monday continued to significantly exceed average levels. The market had anticipated a much poorer picture in the wake of the heavy rainfall and flooding in the US, which had caused the US wheat price to reach 529 US cents per bushel for a time on Friday – its highest level since early April. According to the USDA, 45% of winter wheat plants can be rated as being in good or excellent condition, the same proportion as in the previous week. That’s 15 percentage points higher than at the same time last year. The assessments of the condition of spring wheat were actually raised once again. With 69% rated as being in the good to excellent category, this proportion was four percentage points above last week’s figure. Corn sowing and plant development are also continuing to make rapid progress. According to the USDA, 92% of the corn acreage has already been planted, while 74% of the seeds have already emerged. This is 12 percentage points above the five-year average. The corn price shed nearly 1.5% during trading yesterday and closed at a seven-month low of 355 US cents per bushel.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com