Russians, Argentines, Cows Are Squeezing U.S. Wheat Price

Wheat farmers in the U.S. can’t catch a break. Even after they harvested the smallest crop in three years, prices are plunging because output has surged almost everywhere else in the world.

With ample inventories, buyers including China, Brazil and Nigeria are getting less from the U.S., the largest exporter. Demand, including overseas sales, is the weakest in almost two decades, while a surging dollar makes U.S. grain less appealing than supplies from other countries. Compounding the slump are domestic cattle producers who have gone back to using more corn in feed rations.