Corn set for best week in nearly 7 months on China demand

Corn prices advanced on Friday and were on track for their biggest weekly gain in nearly seven months, buoyed by expectations of rising demand in China and tight supplies, while a soft US dollar also lent support.

Soybean and wheat prices were also set for weekly gains.

FUNDAMENTALS

• The Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) most-active corn contract climbed 0.8% to $5.39 a bushel by 0133 GMT.

• The benchmark contract, which rose to $5.50-1/2 in the previous session - the highest price since June 2013 - was so far up nearly 8% this week, its biggest weekly gain since early July.

• Soybean prices rose 0.5% to $13.60 a bushel, while wheat gained 0.4% to $6.49-1/2 a bushel.

• Hot weather has prompted Argentina, the world's top exporter of soymeal livestock feed, to shave its estimate for its upcoming soy crop to 46 million tonnes, from 46.5 million tonnes earlier.

• Euronext is developing cash-settled futures for Ukrainian wheat to cater for the growing Black Sea grain export market.

• US soybean crushings likely rose to 5.817 million short tons in December, or 193.9 million bushels, according to a Reuters poll of analysts ahead of a monthly US Department of Agriculture report.

• Harvesting delays in Brazilian soybean fields should continue throughout February after a drought pushed back plantings of the oilseeds, according to Thaís Italiani, market intelligence coordinator at Hedgepoint Global Markets.

• In an unusual move, the US oil industry is seeking to forge an alliance with the nation's corn growers and biofuel producers to lobby against the Biden administration's push for electric vehicles.