Winter wheat on Friday climbed higher for a fourth straight day as a deep freeze across the US grain belt escalates concern about shrinking crops.
The extreme cold snap is putting recently planted wheat in danger of winterkill, which can occur when soil lacking enough snow protection can grow cold enough to kill off the plant.
Grains in some key areas already are the focus of worry over ongoing drought.
“The cold weather could produce some winterkill in US production areas to make a small crop even smaller,” said Jack Scoville, vice president of Chicago brokerage Price Futures Group.
Record-cold temperatures are striking as the Russia-Ukraine war continues to limit farm exports from two of the world’s top grain shippers.
Corn and soybeans in South America are also in focus amid weather woes in the region, while delayed harvests in Brazil and Thailand fuel higher sugar prices. The supply issues raise the prospect of more food inflation next year.
The Bloomberg Agriculture Spot Index was heading for third weekly gain as of Thursday, with most markets extending gains on Friday. That would be the longest streak of weekly gains since May.
Hard red winter wheat futures rose for a fourth day in Chicago, the longest such streak since August. The most-active futures contract is poised to end the week up 3.6 percent, the biggest jump since late September.
Benchmark Chicago wheat rose as much as 2 percent to US$7.7775 a bushel on Friday, the highest since Dec. 2. The futures reached a second straight week of gains.
Corn and soybeans in Chicago also gained as dry weather and rising temperatures are poised to return in Argentina today, further stressing crops.
Raw sugar climbed higher for a sixth straight trading day on tight global supplies amid slower-than-expected global harvests.
Other commodities:
‧ Gold for Gold for February delivery rose US$8.90 to US$1,804.20 an ounce, up 0.22 percent for the week.
‧ Silver for March delivery rose US$0.30 to US$23.92 an ounce, up 2.53 percent weekly.
‧ Copper for March delivery rose US$0.05 to US$3.81 per pound, recording a 1.33 percent increase for the week.
Additional reporting by AP
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
The New Taiwan dollar and Taiwanese stocks surged on signs that trade tensions between the world’s top two economies might start easing and as US tech earnings boosted the outlook of the nation’s semiconductor exports. The NT dollar strengthened as much as 3.8 percent versus the US dollar to 30.815, the biggest intraday gain since January 2011, closing at NT$31.064. The benchmark TAIEX jumped 2.73 percent to outperform the region’s equity gauges. Outlook for global trade improved after China said it is assessing possible trade talks with the US, providing a boost for the nation’s currency and shares. As the NT dollar
RSS