CANBERRA: Chicago wheat futures fell on Friday but the market was still set for its biggest weekly rise since June amid fears that dry weather will reduce some harvests and after a ship in the Black Sea struck a mine, threatening Ukrainian grain exports.

Corn futures also slipped but were on track for their biggest weekly rise since July. Soybeans were little changed for the day or week.

 

FUNDAMENTALS

* Most-active Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat futures were down 0.7% at $5.74-1/4 a bushel by 0028 GMT but up 6% this week.

* CBOT corn fell 0.2% to $4.96-1/2 a bushel but was up 4.2% for the week, while soybeans were flat at $12.81 a bushel and up 0.5% from last Friday's close.

* A Turkish-flagged general cargo ship hit a mine in the Black Sea and suffered minor damage on Thursday.

* A Ukrainian government source said it was "probably a World War II mine or the landing mines that were left there last year", but the event came shortly after Britain said Russia may target civilian shipping, including by laying sea mines on the approach to Ukrainian ports.

* The news highlighted the difficulty of exporting from Ukraine by sea, the cheapest and easiest available route.

* Ukraine also exports by land and said a stand-off with neighbouring EU countries that have restricted imports of its farm products could be resolved but probably not before Polish elections this month.

* CBOT wheat fell to a three-year low of $5.40 a bushel last week due to massive supply of cheap grain from Russia but harvest downgrades have occurred elsewhere, pointing to tighter markets in coming months.

* Ukraine's agriculture minister said the country was likely to sow less winter wheat than it initially expected for the 2024 harvest due to prolonged absence of rain across most regions.

* Grain trade association Coceral lowered its estimate of this year's soft wheat crop in the European Union and Britain to 141.0 million metric tons from 142.4 million in June, mainly due to dry weather.

* Argentina's Rosario grains exchange said the country's agricultural heartland needs more rain soon to avoid wheat productivity losses.

* Dry weather has also hit wheat crops in Australia.

* On the demand side, meanwhile, Asian flour millers looking at the tighter supply outlook are likely to step up purchases.

* Moving away from wheat, the Buenos Aires grains exchange said Argentine land planted with corn for the 2023/24 season could be less than expected if there is no rain in coming weeks.

* In soybeans, Argentina's processing plants are running out of beans after a historic drought cut the crop in half, the head of the country's grains export chamber said.

* Chicago corn and soybeans are near multi-year lows as U.S. sellers struggle to compete with supplies from Brazil, the top exporter, which has seen a record harvests.

* The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported weekly U.S. corn and soybean export sales within analysts' expectations.

* Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, wheat, soybean and soymeal futures on Thursday, traders said.

 

MARKETS NEWS

The dollar eased and a gauge of global equities edged higher on Thursday as investors considered a still-tight U.S. labor market and Federal Reserve signals that interest rates will stay higher for longer.

 

(Reporting by Peter Hobson; Editing by Rashmi Aich)