Chicago Board of Trade corn, soyabean and wheat futures rose on Friday, supported by a pick-up in overseas demand for US commodities, traders said.
CBOT soft red winter wheat futures were on track for their fourth straight day of gains and hit their highest since February 24. Wheat has risen 7.4% this week, which would be its biggest weekly gain since May, as demand for pasta and bread was expected to rise due to the coronavirus pandemic.
"Wheat has got sort of an interesting relationship with the coronavirus," said Ted Seifried, chief market strategist for Zaner Ag Hedge. "During the run on the grocery stores, a lot of people forgot about being gluten free."
At 10:18 a.m. CDT (1618 GMT), CBOT May soft red winter wheat futures were up 8 cents at $5.43 a bushel. CBOT May corn was up 2 cents at $3.47-1/2 a bushel and CBOT May soyabeans were up 15-3/4 cents at $8.59 a bushel.
Chinese importers signed deals to buy US corn and wheat in their first round of major purchases since Washington and Beijing signed a Phase 1 trade deal in January, the US Agriculture Department said.
USDA also said that unknown buyers booked deals for 110,000 tonnes of US soyabeans. On Thursday, two trade sources with knowledge of the deal said that exporters sold soyabeans to China.
The 756,000-tonne corn sale, announced on Friday morning, was China's biggest purchase of US corn since July 2013. But corn futures retreated from their overnight highs after the crude oil market turned lower.
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