By Tony C. Dreibus
April 9 (Bloomberg) -- Wheat fell for the fourth straight day, erasing earlier gains, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture said global stockpiles will be 2.3 percent higher than forecast last month.
About 158.1 million metric tons of wheat will be in storage at the end of the marketing year on May 31, the USDA said today in a report. That’s up from a March projection of 155.9 million tons. Argentina’s estimated supplies at the beginning of the marketing year were raised to 1.6 million tons from 300,000 tons a month ago.
“When you look at the world ending stocks you did see a little bit of an increase,” said Dewey Strickler, president of Ag Watch Market Advisers in Nashville, Tennessee. “Wheat has been the weakest market of all the grains.”
Wheat futures for May delivery fell 7.25 cents, or 1.4 percent, to $5.2475 a bushel at 11:35 a.m. on the Chicago Board of Trade. The price is down 14 percent this year, partly on increased global production and declining demand for U.S. grain.
Futures earlier gained as much as 2.2 percent after the USDA projected U.S. stockpiles would decline from last month’s projection. Domestic inventories will total 696 million bushels (18.9 million tons), down from a March estimate of 712 million bushels.
Wheat is the fourth-biggest U.S. crop, valued at $16.6 billion in 2008, behind corn, soybeans and hay, government data show.
To contact the reporter on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in Chicago at Tdreibus@bloomberg.net.
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