GRAINS-Wheat falls on firm dollar, hopes for Black Sea corridor talks

By Karl Plume

CHICAGO, Oct. 14 (Reuters) – U.S. wheat futures fell on Friday, giving up all previous session gains on a stronger dollar and hopes for progress in talks to maintain a Ukrainian Black Sea grain export corridor.

Corn and soybeans followed wheat lower, weighed down by dull demand and pressure by decline in energy and equity markets. MKTS/GLOB

Thursday, wheat jumped after Russian Ambassador to the UN in Geneva told Reuters that Moscow may reject the renewal of the corridor agreement that allowed wartime exports from Ukraine’s Black Sea ports.

However, there were hopes for progress in the negotiations after a Meet between Russian President Vladimir Putin and his Turkish counterpart Tayyip Erdogan.

“All the reasons why wheat rallied yesterday have been taken away today,” said Ted Seifried, chief agricultural strategist for the Zaner Group.

“Putin said he wasn’t happy with the deal and he could end it. Well, he’s not, so maybe it’s just a discussion… Then the dollar turns around, picking up most of yesterday’s weakness,” he said.

Chicago Board of Trade December Wheat WZ2 fell 32-1/2 cents to $8.59-3/4 a bushel, ending the week down 2.3% in a second straight weekly decline.

December Corn CBOT CZ2 fell 8 cents to $6.89-3/4 a bushel while November soybeans SX2 lose 12 cents to $13.83-3/4 a bushel. But both benchmark contracts ended higher this week, with corn up 1% and soybeans up 1.2%.

Weak export demand put pressure on corn as the US Department of Agriculture on Friday reported net sales last week of just 260,700 tonnes, below trade expectations. EXP/CORNUSDA/EST

Tepid sales also weighed on soybeans, although weekly sales of 724,400 tonnes were in line with estimates. EXP/SOYA

Several large daily soybean export sales announcements by the USDA this week totaling 1.622 million tonnes, mostly to major importer China, offered little support for futures contracts as trades are seen as routine sales, traders said.

(Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore Editing by Kirsten Donovan and David Gregorio)

((karl.plume@thomsonreuters.com; +1 313 484 5285; Reuters Messaging: karl.plume.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

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