Wheat Rises as Rain Slows Winter Planting From Ukraine to Russia

Wheat rose in Chicago and Paris on signs that production in Ukraine and Russia will be less than expected as excess rain prevents farmers from planting winter crops. Soybeans and corn gained.

Eastern Ukraine, Russia’s Volga Valley and the Caucasus region may see “widespread moderate to locally heavy” rain through tomorrow, AccuWeather Inc. said in a report. Ukraine’s winter-wheat planting may be 30 percent less than the country’s target after record rainfall last month, the national weather center in Kiev said Sept. 27. In Russia, winter grain sowing may be as low as 13 million hectares (32 million acres), below the intended area of 16.4 million hectares, the country’s Grain Union said the same day.

“Wheat continues to be the leader,” economist Dennis Gartman said in his daily Gartman Letter. Traders are “paying attention to the fact that Ukraine’s winter wheat crop will be curtailed rather sharply because of undue amounts of rain that have made planting of that crop all but impossible.”

Wheat for December delivery climbed 0.8 percent to $6.9125 a bushel by 6:50 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade, heading for an eighth increase in nine sessions. Milling wheat for November delivery added 0.9 percent to 194.50 euros ($264.54) a metric ton in Paris, after touching 194.75 euros, matching an intraday peak achieved Sept. 30 that was the highest since July 22.

World grain production this year will be 2.49 billion tons, 3.1 million tons less than previously expected while still rising 7.7 percent from last year, the United Nations Food & Agriculture Organization said today. The agency cut its outlook for the world’s wheat harvest to 704.6 million tons because of reduced production potential in South America, where some crops were damaged by frost.

Weather

Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.5 percent to $12.8075 a bushel in Chicago on speculation rain this week in the Midwest may delay the harvest. Corn for December delivery rose 0.4 percent to $4.4075 a bushel, after touching $4.35 yesterday, the lowest for a most-active contract since August 2010.

U.S. growing areas including Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin and South Dakota may see 2 inches (5 centimeters) of rain or more through Oct. 8, National Weather Service data show. Eleven percent of soybean crops in the main U.S. growing areas were harvested as of Sept. 29, less than the previous five-year average of 20 percent, U.S. Department of Agriculture data show. The corn harvest was 12 percent complete, behind the average pace of 23 percent.

To contact the reporters on this story: Whitney McFerron in London at wmcferron1@bloomberg.net; Supunnabul Suwannakij in Bangkok at ssuwannakij@bloomberg.net.

To contact the editor responsible for this story: Claudia Carpenter at ccarpenter2@bloomberg.net.