Commodities for Thursday, Feb. 14, l985 : Wheat Prices Take Tumble

Increased competition from foreign producers led to heavy selling in wheat futures prices that sparked a decline in grain and soybean futures prices Thursday on the Chicago Board of Trade.

Wheat prices led the decline, and analysts said pressure came early in the session from a report Wednesday by the Agriculture Department that the Soviet Union had canceled a purchase of 150,000 metric tons of U.S. wheat. A major exporting company was said to be a key seller in the wheat pit.

The report came a day after another announcement that the Soviets bought 950,000 tons of wheat from Australia, a competitor of the United States. In addition, Turkey canceled plans to buy as much as 500,000 bushels of U.S. wheat, said Walter Spilka, a grain analyst in New York with Smith Barney, Harris Upham & Co.

Soybeans fell late in the session, and Spilka noted that the slide coincided with a late break in the silver market, which frequently influences soybean prices.

Trading was quiet throughout the session, awaiting today’s release of an Agriculture Department report on how many acres of corn and soybeans farmers say they intend to plant in the upcoming season.

Cattle prices were lower and live hogs and frozen pork bellies were mostly higher in light trading on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange.