Chicago corn, wheat and soybean futures were set for a weekly fall, even as prices edged higher on Friday after falling sharply in the previous session amid mounting concerns about a global economic slowdown.
The most-active wheat contract Wv1 on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.8% to $8.01 a bushel as of 0342 GMT, but was down 0.5% for the week.
Soybeans Sv1 gained 0.6% to $14.03 a bushel, but were down nearly 4% for the week. Meanwhile, corn Cv1 was up 0.4% at $6.60-3/4 a bushel, and was down 0.5% on a weekly basis.
Slower Trading Volumes
"Trading volumes have been slow this week as grains grind lower. Technically the ag markets look exhausted and are due for a correction as we get into the thick of North Hemisphere harvest," said Craig Turner, a grain broker with StoneX, in a research note.
"The export market remains active with Japan buying 95,000 tonnes of milling wheat (27,000 from Canada) and South Korea buying 63,000 tonnes of Australia feed wheat."
Japan, the world's sixth-largest wheat importer, bought 95,497 tonnes of food-quality wheat from the United States and Canada in regular tenders that closed on Thursday.
South Korea's Major Feedmill Group (MFG) also purchased about 63,000 tonnes of animal feed wheat expected to be sourced from Australia in a private deal on Wednesday without issuing an international tender, European traders said on Thursday.
Grain Shipments
Looking ahead, worries about shipments from the war-torn Ukraine could provide further support to grains futures.
A cargo vessel carrying more than 3,000 tonnes of corn from Ukraine drifted aground in Istanbul on Thursday, halting shipping on Turkey's Bosphorus strait in the first such incident since a United Nations-brokered export deal in July.
Commodity funds were net sellers of Chicago Board of Trade corn, wheat, soyoil and soybean futures contracts on Thursday and were net even in soymeal futures, traders said.
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