Mumbai, 12 Apr (Commoditiescontrol): Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) wheat futures settled lower on Thursday, though tensions in the Black Sea region kept a floor under the market, traders said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's (USDA) monthly supply and demand report forecast lower domestic wheat supplies, reduced domestic use, unchanged exports, and higher ending stocks.
Ahead of the report, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the government to raise its forecasts of U.S. and global 2023/24 wheat ending stocks.
CBOT May soft red winter wheat settled 6-3/4 cents lower at $5.51-3/4 a bushel. K.C. May hard red winter wheat settled 11-1/4 cents lower at $5.83-1/4 per bushel. MGEX May spring wheat settled 14-3/4 cents lower at $6.37 a bushel, while most-active MGEX July spring wheat closed 13-3/4 cents lower at $6.45-1/4 a bushel.
The USDA reported export sales of U.S. old-crop wheat in the week ended April 4 at 80,700 metric tons and new-crop wheat sales at 274,400 tons, in line with trade expectations.
Ukraine's state-run railway operator Ukrzaliznytsia suspended all deliveries to the large Black Sea port of Chornomorsk for April 11-13, the company said.
Russia and Kazakhstan battle record floods, after major rivers burst their banks in the worst flooding seen in the areas in nearly a century.
The National Weather Service's Climate Prediction Center on Thursday said forecasters expect an about 60% chance of the La Nina weather pattern characterized by unusually cold temperatures in the Pacific Ocean emerging in the second half of 2024.
(By Commoditiescontrol Bureau: 09820130172)