SINGAPORE: US wheat futures rose around half a percent on Thursday as the market recovered from over three-month lows on positioning ahead of a USDA report on demand and supply of agricultural products.
Soybeans ticked higher in early Asian trade after tumbling in the last three sessions on improved outlook for the South American crop, while corn was firm amid tight global supplies.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Investors have been steadily trimming their positions in grain markets this week as a surge in oil prices well past $105 a barrel has raised concerns of a global decline in demand.
* The declines come ahead of a key US Department of Agriculture's (USDA) March supply-demand report, which is widely expected to raise Brazilian soybean production.
* Soybeans suffered three straight days of declines as the ongoing harvest in South America was expected to provide enough supplies to satisfy export demand.
* Argentina's soy and corn crops have good soil moisture reserves despite scant rainfall over the last two weeks, and more rains are forecast for the weekend, a specialist in crop weather said on Wednesday.
* Most traders have adopted a bearish view of wheat prices after the market failed to churn higher following news of export sales to Iraq and Lebanon earlier this week.
* Analysts expected the USDA to raise its US soybean stocks forecast for the first time in 11 months. The US government was seen cutting its wheat stocks estimate by 8 million bushels and its corn stocks outlook by 10 million bushels.
* US ethanol production snapped a five-week decline, rising slightly in the past week as profit margins improved, ethanol experts said, a potentially bullish factor for corn, a key ethanol ingredient.
* China will report preliminary commodity import and export figures for February on Thursday.
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