US soyabean futures rose for a fifth straight session on Monday and the most active contract hit a one-year high as weather forecasts for drought-hit Argentina suggested little rain for the world's third-largest exporter.
Drought worries also lifted corn by the most in two weeks. Wheat futures jumped about 2 percent as dry conditions in the US Plains and severe cold in Europe also fuelled weather concerns. Investors were assessing the scale of drought losses to Argentina's upcoming harvest and to what extent the damage will be offset by an expected record crop in Brazil.
"Argentina's dryness has been the big story in the soyabean market, but record Brazilian supplies should compensate for some of the supply losses," said Phin Ziebell, an agribusiness economist for National Australia Bank. Parched Argentine fields are expected to receive about 15 millimetres of rain in the coming days, far short of the 100 millimetres needed to reverse some of the damage to crops, Meteorologist G. Heinzenknecht of the Applied Climatology Consultancy said.
Brazilian soyabean farmers, however, are expected to harvest a record 117.5 million tonnes of soyabeans in the 2017/18 crop cycle, a top executive at Brazil-based consultancy Agroconsult said on Friday. Chicago Board of Trade March soyabeans rose 4-1/2 cents to $10.40-3/4 a bushel by 11:57 am CST (1757 GMT) while actively traded May futures added 5-1/4 cents to $10.52-3/4 a bushel. May through March 2019 posted contract highs.
CBOT March corn was up 3 cents at $3.69-1/4 a bushel while May gained 3-1/2 cents to $3.78 a bushel, a five-month high. Weather worries were also building up in the wheat market, with weather forecasts turning dry again in the US Plains and intense cold across Europe raising concern of frost damage. CBOT March soft red winter wheat jumped 8-3/4 cents to $4.61 a bushel. March K.C. hard red winter wheat was up 8-3/4 cents at $4.77-3/4 a bushel.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.