US corn, wheat and soyabean futures rose on Thursday on fresh export demand and renewed hopes for a trade agreement with China after US President Donald Trump tweeted that a deal with Beijing was "very close," analysts said.
As of 10:57 a.m. CST (1657 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade March corn futures were up 6-1/2 cents at $3.77-3/4 per bushel, on track for their biggest single-day advance in nearly two weeks.
CBOT March wheat was up 12-1/2 cents at $5.31-3/4 a bushel and January soyabeans were up 4 cents at $8.97-1/2 a bushel.
All three markets advanced after Trump said the United States was "very close" to nailing down a trade deal with China, and the Wall Street Journal reported that US negotiators have offered to cut existing tariffs and suspend tariffs due to go into effect on Dec. 15. The White House had no comment on the report.
Additional support stemmed from news that the US Department of Agriculture confirmed private sales of 1.6 million tonnes of corn to Mexico, the fifth-biggest daily US corn sale on record.
"As of the beginning of December, export commitments to everybody else but Mexico were record low," said Bill Tierney, analyst with AgResource Co in Chicago, citing cheaper supplies from South American suppliers.
"So luckily for us, the only market we are competitive in, price-wise, happened to be a huge market for corn," Tierney said of Mexico.
The sale to Mexico, announced through the USDA's daily reporting system, came after the agency reported stronger-than-expected weekly corn export sales totaling 876,000 tonnes. Weekly sales of US wheat and soyabeans also topped trade expectations.
In addition, with the US harvest virtually wrapped up, CBOT futures were due for a rebound, Tierney said.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.