Wheat futures tumble on exceeded projections for US ending stocks, sown area
U.S. wheat futures extended losses on Wednesday after the U.S. Department of Agriculture projected that domestic farmers planted more acres than traders anticipated, Reuters reports.
It is marked that according to analysts larger-than-expected USDA estimates for wheat inventories added pressure on the market after supply concerns drove Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) futures prices to nine-year highs in November.
The high prices helped to encourage more plantings while bakers and millers worried about poor weather reducing harvests of high-protein wheat, analysts said.
U.S. growers planted 34.397 mln ac (13.92 mln ha – ed.) of winter wheat, up 2% from 2021, the USDA said in a crop report. Analysts surveyed by Reuters expected 34.255 mln ac (13.86 mln ha).
The USDA pegged domestic wheat ending stocks at 628 mln bu. (17.09 mln t – ed.), above the average estimate for 608 mln (16.54 mln), and the global carryout at 279.95 mln t, above expectations for 278.67 mln.
“Wheat got a bearish carryover number and a bearish acreage number,” chief agriculture strategist for the Zaner Group Ted Seifried told Reuters.
The most-active CBOT wheat contract settled down 12-1/2 cents at USD 7.57-3/4 per bushel.
Previously reported that the world wheat production in 2021/22 is projected by the USDA at 778.6 mln t, 0.71 mln t above the December report.
