By Kirk Maltais

-- Wheat for March delivery fell 2.8%, to $7.40 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday as traders viewed U.S. prices as too high to compete globally.

-- Corn for March delivery fell 0.9%, to $6.40 1/2 a bushel.

-- Soybeans for January delivery rose 0.1% to $14.40 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Falling Knife: Grain traders are generally holding back from CBOT wheat futures, and even with the continuous contract finding its lowest level in over a year traders are uninterested in bargain-hunting. "U.S. wheat is not competitive on the world stage, and at this time of year, no one is interested in trying to grab a falling knife," Dan Hueber of the Hueber Report told the WSJ. Most-active wheat futures have shed roughly 13% in the past month.

Weather Watch: While corn and wheat futures on the CBOT finished lower, soybeans closed higher. For soybeans, a factor lifting futures is dry weather seen in South America, particularly Argentina - where rainfall expectations this week are limited and temperatures are well above normal for this time of year, according to a weather forecast from DTN. "Concerns over Argentine weather is the primary driver," Karl Setzer of Mid-Co Commodities told the WSJ, adding that easing Covid-19 restrictions in China is also providing a boost.

Taking Cues: Corn and wheat futures spent the day lower, following prices in Ukraine - where a slowdown in available cargo vessels has grains amassing in port storage. "Port facilities are filling with grain, with fewer ships coming into harbor," said Arlan Suderman of StoneX in a note. "A big reason for the slowdown is Russia's slow walking of ship inspections, which backs up ships, raising costs for shippers - that makes Ukrainian grain less attractive to buyers."

INSIGHTS

Turn Around Potential: Traders seemed uninterested in bargain-hunting today, but long-term fundamentals may support an eventual uptick in prices before the end of the year. "U.S. wheat will be closer to global prices so this may help shore up the decline but there are plenty of fundamentals that are more long term bullish," Virginia McGathey of McGathey Commodities told the WSJ. "This could be a bargain for traders looking through to 2023 - I expect the next few weeks to be exciting as everyone looks to close the books for 2022."

Losing Streak: Open interest in agricultural futures has fallen for a fourth consecutive week, says JPMorgan Global Commodities Research in its latest report. The firm says that for the week ended December 2, open interest slid $4.49 billion to $279.3 billion. That's the lowest open interest has been in agriculture in the past two months, JPMorgan said. Open interest across all commodities did improve, however - led by improvements in the environmental markets as well as the metals markets.

AHEAD

-- The EIA will release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

-- The USDA will release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

-- The USDA will release its monthly world supply and demand report at noon ET Friday.

-- The CFTC will release its weekly commitment of traders report at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 05, 2022 15:06 ET (20:06 GMT)

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