Wheat faces biggest weekly loss in 6 months on U.S. crop prospects

• Wheat poised for biggest weekly decline since November
• Crop scouts raise outlook for U.S. hard red winter wheat
• Corn faces biggest weekly loss in 9 months

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By Naveen Thukral

SINGAPORE, May 6 (Reuters) – Chicago wheat was on track on Friday for its biggest weekly decline since November as a crucial crop tour is forecasting higher-than-expected yields across the U.S. Plains, adding pressure on an already amply supplied market.

Corn faced its biggest weekly loss in nine months, while soybeans are set to fall after three straight weekly gains.

Wheat crop prospects in Kansas, the top U.S. producer of the grain, are well above average as crop-saving rains last month should more than offset the impact of an earlier drought, scouts on an annual tour said on Thursday. (nL2N1821BN)

“The U.S. hard red winter wheat market was headed for indigestion at harvest anyway,” said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, commenting on a market that already has a sizeable surplus.

“The indigestion will be well worse if these forecasts are realised.”

The scouts on the three-day Kansas wheat crop tour estimated the average yield at 48.6 bushels per acre (bpa), topping last year’s U.S. Department of Agriculture estimate of 37.0 bpa and a five-year Kansas tour average of 39.3 bpa.

Adding to the bearish picture, the USDA on Thursday said that weekly old-crop export sales of wheat totalled just 178,900 tonnes, down from 351,800 tonnes a week ago. New-crop wheat export sales of 140,000 tonnes fell below market forecasts.EXP/WHE (nZXN0AQ805)

Chicago Board Of Trade most-active wheat contract Wv1 is down more than 5 percent, which would mark the biggest weekly loss in nearly six months.

Corn Cv1 has lost 4.3 percent, the biggest weekly fall since last July. Soybeans Sv1 are down 1.6 percent for the first weekly fall since mid-April.

The corn market slid in sympathy with wheat although concerns about lower planting in China and falling output in Brazil kept a floor under the market.

China has estimated the country’s corn planting area will fall by more than a million hectares this year, the first drop in 13 years, as global grain markets brace for fallout from Beijing’s biggest agricultural reforms in nearly a decade. (nL3N1821HN)

There was pressure on soybeans stemming from a steep decline in the Chinese market.

Dalian soybeans DSAcv1 slid 2.5 percent, soymeal DSMcv1 gave up 2.9 percent and soyoil DBYcv1 lost 1.3 percent.

Trader estimates of net fund selling in soybeans ranged from 12,000 to 20,000 contracts. They were net sellers of 8,000 contracts in corn and 3,500 to 5,000 contracts in wheat. COMFUND/CBT