At the Chicago Board of Trade at 9:57 am CST (1557 GMT), benchmark March wheat was down 22-3/4 cents, or 2.7 percent, at $8.26 per bushel, its biggest daily loss in a month. Front-month December wheat fell to $8.10, the lowest spot price since July 11. CBOT March corn was up 1/4 cent at $7.30-1/4 a bushel, while January soyabeans were down 1/2 cent at $14.74-1/4 a bushel. Wheat tumbled on data in the USDA's monthly report. The department raised its forecast of US 2012/13 wheat ending stocks to 754 million bushels, at the high end of trade expectations and up from a November estimate of 704 million bushels, reflecting a slowdown in exports.
The USDA also raised its forecast of global wheat inventories for 2012/13 to 176.95 million tonnes, up from 174.18 million in November and above trade estimates ranging from 170 million to 175.68 million. Traders noted that the USDA had raised its forecast of Australia's wheat crop to 22 million tonnes from 21 million in November, and left its forecast of the Argentine wheat harvest unchanged at 11.5 million tonnes despite heavy rains that have swamped fields in that country.
CBOT March corn hit a three-week low in early moves. But the market pared losses and turned higher at times after USDA left its forecast of US 2012/13 ending stocks unchanged at 647 million bushels, a 17-year low that was below the analysts' average estimate of 663 million.