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Ukraine faces export issues despite resumption of ship inspections
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Corn, soybeans to take direction from U.S. planting
SINGAPORE, April 20 (Reuters) - Chicago wheat futures lost more ground on Thursday as supply concerns eased with inspections of ships carrying Ukrainian grain resuming in the Black Sea region.
Soybeans fell for a third consecutive session while corn dipped as agricultural markets faced additional pressure from weaker crude oil prices.
"Inspections of grain vessels shipped from Ukrainian ports under the Black Sea Grain Initiative resumed yesterday after being blocked for two days," ING said in a report.
"This move would have helped ease some supply concerns in the global market, but there are still risks around these flows."
The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) fell 0.7% to $6.88-1/4 a bushel, as of 0323 GMT. Soybeans gave up 0.4% to $14.72-3/4 a bushel and corn lost 0.1% to $6.35-3/4 a bushel.
Inspections of ships carrying Ukrainian grain from the Black Sea resumed on Wednesday under a UN-brokered deal but Kyiv faces a struggle to secure an extension of the agreement, as well as a widening import ban in eastern Europe.
Bulgaria became the fourth European Union member state in the region to block Ukrainian grain imports, hoping to protect local farmers following an influx of cheaper supplies since Russia's invasion of Ukraine 14 months ago.
Russia will have a good grain harvest this year of about 123 million tonnes, including 78 million tonnes of wheat, its agriculture minister said on Wednesday, indicating the harvest will be about a fifth less than the record achieved last year.
Russia had a record grain harvest of 153.8 million tonnes in 2022, including over 100 million tonnes of wheat, due to higher yields and an increase in the area sown.
Oil fell on Thursday as muted U.S. economic data and expectations of interest rate hikes pushed up the U.S. dollar, prompting concerns over global oil demand.
Oil often directs movement in agricultural markets with growing use of crops in making biofuels which compete with petroleum products.
In the United States, weather forecasts pointed to rainfall next week in some drought-affected U.S. hard red winter wheat belts, although planting of soybeans and corn was seen continuing.
A federation of unions representing Argentina's port and maritime workers lifted a three-day-old strike that had affected the key Rosario grains shipping hub, the federation said in a statement on Wednesday.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT grain and soy futures contracts on Wednesday, traders said. (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; editing by Uttaresh Venkateshwaran)
