Wheat prices advance as questions mount about Russia’s fall planting season

Wheat gains on questions about Russia’s fall crop

Wheat prices advanced Monday as questions mounted about whether Russian farmers will be able to plant a normal crop this fall.

A devastating drought destroyed about a third of Russia’s spring wheat crop, prompting the country to ban exports. Although temperatures have fallen recently, the region still needs significant rainfall to help farmers.

Wheat for December delivery rose 13.25 cents to $7.2525 a bushel.

“We’re not running out of wheat worldwide. It’s just where is the wheat located and where does it need to go as far as the largest buyers are concerned,” Telvent DTN analyst Darin Newsom said.

“I think this is going to bring more demand to the United States from places that we haven’t sold a great deal of wheat to here over the last few years,” he added.

December corn lost 3.5 cents to settle at $4.3275 a bushel while November soybeans gained 1.5 cents to $10.055 a bushel.

Metals prices were mixed in light volume as traders awaited several key U.S. economic reports due this week, Lind-Waldock senior market strategist Rich Ilczyszyn said.

Some reports should offer clues about demand for metals used in construction and manufacturing such as copper, palladium and platinum.

Copper for December delivery added 0.1 cent to settle at $3.3125 a pound; September palladium rose $7.50 to settle at $483.70 an ounce and October platinum lost $5.30 to $1,508.60 an ounce.

Gold for December delivery dipped 30 cents to settle at $1,228.50 and silver added 0.1 cents to settle at $18.042 an ounce.

Oil and other energy prices fell after forecasters said Tropical Storm Danielle would miss the Gulf of Mexico.

“I think the market is starting to wake up to the fact that we probably have more supply of oil than we’re going to use in the near future and that’s really going to weigh on price as we get deeper into the shoulder season,” PFG analyst Phil Flynn said.

Benchmark crude for October delivery lost 72 cents to settle at $73.10 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

In other Nymex trading in September contracts, natural gas for September delivery fell 5.1 cents to $4.066 per 1,000 cubic feet; heating oil lost 1.56 cents to settle at $1.9554 a gallon; and gasoline slipped 4.41 cents to $1.8810 a gallon.