US wheat and corn, on track for weekly gains of around 3 percent, rose on Friday in Asia, while soy also gained but was heading for a slight loss on the week as traders said demand, especially from China, remains strong. "Given strong demand for grains, particularly from China, the buying (is likely) to carry through next week," said Garry Booth, a trader with MF Global Australia.
Chicago Board of Trade May wheat rose 0.51 percent to$7.43-1/4 a bushel by 0346 GMT, on track for a weekly gain of almost 3 percent. CBOT May corn gained 0.53 percent to $7.06-1/4 a bushel, on track for a 3.3 percent weekly gain, while May soybeans were up 0.41 percent at $13.60 a bushel, heading for a slight decline on the week. Traders said a US Department of Agriculture (USDA)?weekly sales report was strong, showing China bought a total of 116,000 tonnes of wheat, most of which are hard red spring wheat.
The largest weekly purchase by China since July 2005 "has increased speculation that the impacts of a dry winter on the Chinese wheat crop could be larger than first expected," wrote Luke Mathews, commodity strategist at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, in his note. Although there were no US corn sales reported for China, the market believes China's demand for the crop will be strong.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.