Investing.com - U.S. wheat futures fell sharply on Monday, as investors looked ahead to the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly update on U.S. planting progress to gauge crop prospects.
On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, U.S. wheat for July delivery tumbled 1.78% or 12.82 cents to trade at $7.0938 a bushel during U.S. morning hours. Prices of the grain hit a session low of $7.0550 a bushel earlier, the weakest level since May 1.
The July contract plunged 1.73%, or 12.6 cents on Friday to settle at $7.2240 after the USDA projected higher global supplies than analysts had expected.
The USDA said global wheat inventories will total 187.4 million metric tons in the 2014-15 season starting June 1, up 0.5% from 186.5 million in the current marketing year.
Elsewhere on the CBOT, U.S. corn for July delivery fell 0.59%, or 2.98 cents, to trade at $5.0363 a bushel, the lowest since May 6.
The July corn contract lost 1.74%, or 9.0 cents on Friday to settle at $5.0740 a bushel after the USDA said that U.S. farmers will harvest 13.935 billion bushels of corn this year, higher than last year's record crop of 13.925 billion.
U.S. corn stockpiles will rise to 1.726 billion bushels before the harvest in 2015, the most since 2006 and up from 1.146 billion forecast this year.
The USDA also projected that global corn inventories will total 181.73 million tonnes in the 2014-15 marketing year, up 7.9% from the current marketing year and the most since 2000.
Meanwhile, U.S. soybeans for July delivery inched up 0.16%, or 2.38 cents to trade at $14.8938 a bushel, the most since May 1. The July soybean contract advanced 1.19%, or 17.4 cents on Friday after the USDA said stockpiles before this fall's harvest will be smaller than expected.
U.S. inventories on August 31 will total 130 million bushels, down from a previous estimate of 135 million.
The agency also said that U.S. soybean production in the 2014-15 season will total 3.635 billion bushels, an all-time high and up from 3.289 billion a year earlier.
Corn is the biggest U.S. crop, followed by soybeans, government figures show. Wheat was fourth, behind hay.