SINGAPORE: Chicago wheat futures lost more ground on Monday, with prices dropping to their lowest levels in three months, as pressure from freshly harvested crops in the United States and Russia dragged down the market.

Corn prices fell amid expectations of higher U.S. output, while soybeans dropped to their lowest levels in four years.

 

FUNDAMENTALS

* The most-active wheat contract in the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was down 0.7% at $5.46-3/4 a bushel, as of 0020 GMT, having dropped earlier in the session to its lowest since April 15 at $5.45 a bushel.

* Corn gave up 0.3% to $4.13-1/2 a bushel and soybeans slid 0.5% to $10.60 a bushel, after falling to their lowest since 2020 at $10.56 a bushel earlier on Monday.

* Wheat prices have been weighed down by warm and dry weather, which is boosting harvest in U.S. and Russian growing regions.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) raised its estimate for corn production and cut the soybean production forecast on Friday, adjusting its estimates in line with the amount of acres planted with each crop.

* The USDA's forecast also predicted that the 2024/25 corn crop is poised to be the third largest in U.S. history, with corn end-stocks being the largest in six years, as of September 2025.

* Still, USDA estimated old-crop corn ending stocks would be 1.877 billion bushels, when traders had been expecting the USDA to set the number at 2.049 billion bushels.

* Ukraine's grain exports in the 2024/25 marketing season had risen to 1.5 million metric tons by July 12 from 894,000 tons a year earlier, agriculture ministry data showed on Friday.

* Large speculators increased their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week ended July 9, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

* The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, trimmed their net short position in CBOT wheat and increased their net short position in soybeans.

 

MARKET NEWS

* U.S. bond futures slipped and the dollar firmed on Monday as investors wagered the attack on U.S. presidential candidate Donald Trump made his victory more likely, while injecting a whole new level of political uncertainty into markets.

 

DATA/EVENTS (GMT) 0200 China Urban Investment (YTD) YY June 0200 China Retail Sales YY June 0200 China GDP YY Q2 0200 China Unemp Rate Urban Area June 0900 EU Industrial Production MM, YY May 1000 EU Reserve Assets Total June n/a UK Housing Price Rightmove MM, YY July (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips)