Chicago wheat prices eased slightly on Friday, but are still expected to gain 6% in the week, after Russia launched an hypersonic missile into a Ukrainian town, raising fears about possible disruptions of exports.

As of 1230 GMT the most active wheat contract on Chicago Board of Trade was down 0.1, at $5.69 per bushel. This is 6% higher than last week.

A Friday pressure was put on the contract by a

Better than expected

Crop outlook is better than it was a month earlier in Western Australia.

Corn futures rose 0.5% at $4.29 per bushel to set up a weekly gain 2.4%. Soybean contracts were down 0.2%, as the outlook for increased global supplies led them downward. As part of a new escalation in the 33-month war, Russia launched a hypersonic intermediate range ballistic missile on Dnipro, Thursday, as a response to the U.S. allowing Kyiv's use of advanced Western weapons to attack Russian territory. The International Grains Council lowered its forecast of global wheat production for 2024/25 by 2 million metric tones, to 796 millions tons. This was largely due to a deteriorating outlook for the European Union. The U.S. Department of Agriculture has confirmed that private sales of U.S. soya beans to China totaled 198,000 tons and 135,000 metric ton to unknown destinations. All of these were for delivery during the 2024/25 year.

According to the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, Argentina's soybean planting for 2024/25 has progressed 16 percentage points over the last week. It now accounts for 35.8% out of the 18,6 million hectares planned for the season. Brazil's agriculture minister announced on Wednesday that China has granted Brazil permission for sorghum exports to Chinese buyers. Fresh grapes, sesame, and fish products were also allowed.

France

FranceAgriMer, the farm office, announced on Friday that farmers had harvested 82% this year's grain-maize crop by November 18, up from 70% a week before, and 90% of soft wheat expected for harvest next year, compared to 78% one week prior.

Traders said that commodity funds sold futures contracts on the Chicago Board of Trade for soybean, soymeal and soyoil. They also sold corn and wheat. Reporting by Mei Mei and Sybille De La Hamaide, Paris. Editing by Sherry Jacobi-Phillips and Subhranshu Saghu.

(source: Reuters)