Wheat, soybeans up for 5th session on China buying, oil rise

• Corn edged higher, also helped by firm oil prices that eased expectations of lower ethanol consumption as the escalating coronavirus spread curbs demand.
• Soybeans were up 1.5pc at $8.75-1/4 a bushel, after hitting $8.77 in earlier trade, the highest since March 11. Soybeans firmed 2.3pc on Friday.

PARIS: Chicago wheat jumped more than 3pc to a one-month high on Monday and soybeans climbed to their strongest in nearly two weeks, with Chinese buying and a rebound in oil prices keeping markets on track for their fifth consecutive session of gains.

Corn edged higher, also helped by firm oil prices that eased expectations of lower ethanol consumption as the escalating coronavirus spread curbs demand.

"The COVID-19 pandemic's impact on food consumption is getting attention in the wheat market," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade added 3.1pc to $5.56 a bushel by 1213 GMT, the highest since Feb. 21.

Soybeans were up 1.5pc at $8.75-1/4 a bushel, after hitting $8.77 in earlier trade, the highest since March 11. Soybeans firmed 2.3pc on Friday.

Corn was up 0.1pc at $3.44-1/4 a bushel, having closed down 0.5pc in the previous session.

The fall of the dollar was also supportive for US grain prices

Lockdowns and panic food buying due to the coronavirus outbreak could ignite world food inflation even though there are ample supplies of staple grains and oilseeds in key exporting nations, a senior economist at FAO and agricultural analysts said.

"China is back on the market and we can note some issues in South American ports, where calls for strikes have been launched in Brazil and Argentina," French consultancy Agritel said in a note.

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 on Friday that private exporters had reported the sale of 756,000 tonnes of corn to China for delivery in the 2019/20 marketing year, and 340,000 tonnes of hard red winter wheat for delivery in 2020/21.

The agency said unknown buyers booked deals for 110,000 tonnes of US soybeans. On Thursday, two trade sources with knowledge of the deal said exporters sold soybeans to China.

The spread of the coronavirus in South America has stoked worries about shipments of soymeal.

A key port town in northern Rosario, Argentina's main grains export hub, was blocking trucks from entering town on Friday in a bid to stop the spread of coronavirus, though the local export chamber said shipments were as yet unaffected.

In Brazil, a union representing about 5,000 autonomous dock workers on Friday called on its members to vote on Monday on whether to hold a strike at Latin America's largest port over concerns about coronavirus risk.

Large speculators increased their net short position in CBOT corn futures in the week to March 17, regulatory data released on Friday showed.

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission's weekly commitments of traders report also showed that non-commercial traders, a category that includes hedge funds, increased their net short position in CBOT wheat and increased their net short position in soybeans.