SINGAPORE: US soybean futures edged higher on Monday, hovering near last week's five-and-half month high, boosted by strong Chinese demand and drought-reduced South American supplies.
Wheat inched down, pressured by favourable weather for hard red winter wheat across areas of the US Plains. Corn was little changed after closing 1.5 percent less last week.
"Soy is the one that has some concerns on the supply side and if demand remains strong those issues will be real," said Brett Cooper, a senior manager of markets at FCStone Australia.
"On wheat, we are heading into a period where we start looking at the northern hemisphere crop conditions and there was some rain in the hard red areas over the weekend."
Chicago Board of Trade May soybeans rose half a cent to $13.38-1/4 a bushel, not far from Friday's high of $13.55-1/2 a bushel, the highest since September 21 on a continuation chart.
Actively traded corn for May delivery rose quarter of a cent to $6.45-1/4 a bushel by 0432 GMT, while May wheat fell 0.3 percent, 2 cents, to $6.41 a bushel.
The US Midwestern grain belt has warmed up this week, an early sign of spring, which may give farmers the opportunity to get started early on planting the vast tracks of corn and soybeans they are expected to this year.
Analysis firm Informa Economics raised its US corn seeding estimate to 95.5 million acres from 94.7 million acres, according to trade sources.
Informa also bumped up US soybean plantings to 75.1 million acres from 74.6 million acres, the trade said, and trimmed all-wheat plantings to 57.7 million acres from 57.9 million acres.
The US Department of Agriculture will issue results of its first survey-based acreage estimates in its so-called planting intentions report on March 30.
At its Outlook conference last month, the USDA forecast that corn will be planted on 94.0 million acres -- the largest such area since 1944 -- and soybeans on 75 million acres.
Soy prices are still being supported by lower supplies from South America, where a drought has affected the soy crop harder than expected. The USDA said the drought had reduced the soybean crop in Brazil, the world's No. 1 exporter, by 9 percent in the past three months and the crop in Argentina by 11 percent.
USDA also said larger exports will reduce 2011/12 US wheat stocks to 825 million bushels, less than the expected 836 million bushels, and its forecast for world wheat supplies at the end of the season was also surprisingly low.
Wheat's gains have been held in check by favourable weather for hard red winter wheat and spring wheat production, analysts said.
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