Chicago wheat and soyabean futures rose around 1 percent on Wednesday and corn was also firm as investors took positions ahead of a key US government report expected to forecast tighter grain and oilseed supplies. Trading was cautious as the grain markets awaited Wednesday's US Agriculture Department supply and demand report which is expected to show a downward revision in US corn stocks to a 15-year low, tighter soyabean stocks for a fifth straight month, and a jump in US winter wheat acreage.
"The focus today will be on the US Department of Agriculture's publication of the current supply and demand estimates," Germany's Commerzbank said in a report. "Further downward revisions of crop estimates are possible given the adverse effects of the weather on the Southern Hemisphere and this could result in further price rises." Chicago Board of Trade wheat for March delivery was up 1.6 percent to $7.72-1/4 a bushel at 1225 GMT after falling for a fourth consecutive day on Tuesday.
"Wheat was starting to look a more bullish play today with harvest problems in Australia and elsewhere in the Southern Hemisphere likely to create more export demand for US supplies," an analyst at one European bank said. Benchmark European wheat futures in Paris were also firmer, with March up 0.75 cents or 0.3 percent at 254.25 euros a tonne.
Chicago January soyabeans gained 1 percent to $13.64-1/2 a bushel and corn for March delivery rose 0.4 percent to $6.10 a bushel. US soyabean futures fell 1.7 percent on Tuesday to a two-week low as heavier-than-normal selling of call options and late-session fund selling added pressure in soyabeans. Analysts said the weather in key South American soyabean and corn producers Argentina and Brazil was playing on investors' minds and providing price direction to the global grain markets in coming months. The USDA was expected to lower its Argentine corn production forecast from 25 million tonnes and perhaps trim its 52-million-tonne soyabean forecast.
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