CHICAGO: US corn futures rose 1.1percent on Friday, paring some of this week’s steep declines, as exporters and domestic users stepped in to buy cash-market grain at discounted prices, analysts said. Signs of export demand and short-covering lifted wheat futures as well, and soybean futures followed the firm trend, underpinned by a robust domestic soy crushing pace.
Canadian canola futures, meanwhile, climbed to a six-week high after Ottawa announced a trade deal with Beijing that will cut Chinese tariffs on Canadian canola. Chicago Board of Trade March corn settled up 4-1/2 cents at USD4.24-3/4 per bushel. CBOT March wheat ended up 7-1/2 cents at USD5.18 a bushel and March soybeans were up 4-3/4 cents at USD10.57-3/4 a bushel.
Corn futures still fell 4.7percent for the week, their biggest weekly decline since July. Prices tumbled on Monday after the US Department of Agriculture pegged US production and inventories above analysts’ expectations.
But the price drop appeared to attract bargain hunters. The USDA confirmed private sales of 418,000 metric tons of US corn under its daily reporting rules on Friday, following another 760,302 tons announced a day earlier. “The break on the Board has reinvigorated export demand,” said Terry Linn, an analyst with Linn & Associates in Chicago. “After we’ve kind of absorbed the supply-side realities from the (USDA) crop report… world buyers are stepping in, and we are seeing that from (domestic) end-users as well.” Wheat drew support from fresh global export tenders this week including Saudi Arabia seeking to buy 595,000 tons of wheat.
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