PARIS/SYDNEY: US corn futures held close to a seven-month high on Wednesday as investors weighed up brisk export demand and drought losses to Argentine crops against global trade tensions.
Soybeans edged up as the oilseed market remained focused on persisting drought in Argentina, while wheat ticked higher with similar concerns about parched US wheat belts.
The most active corn futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade inched up 0.2 percent to $3.92-1/2 a bushel by 1402 GMT, close to Tuesday's high of $3.95-1/4, a level not reached since July.
CBOT wheat futures were up 0.4 percent at $4.88-1/2 a bushel, while soybeans added 0.3 percent to $10.51-3/4 a bushel.
Severe drought in Argentina, which has led forecasters to slash their estimates for the country's upcoming corn and soybean harvests, continued to be the focus of grain markets, and crop experts say rain expected in the week ahead could be too late.
"Rains will offer some minor relief to late-maturing corn/soy (particularly east Argentina), but (with) limited yield recovery overall," the Commodity Weather Group said in a note.
US corn futures have also been supported by healthy export sales: South Korean importers bought over 1 million tonnes of corn in the past week, much of it from the United States, traders said.
But export sentiment was tempered by concern over international trade tensions, fuelled by US President Donald Trump's firing on Tuesday of Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, widely seen as a moderate.
"Market sentiment has soured amid fears of potential widening of US tariffs and the departure of Tillerson," said one Melbourne-based grains trader.
Shares were under pressure for a second day on Wednesday after Trump's threat to slap $60 billion in tariffs on Chinese imports also worried investors, although the dollar steadied after a one-week low.
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