Soy, corn higher on improving export demand for US supplies

CHICAGO: US soybean futures rose on Thursday for a third straight session as top global soy buyer China booked more US supplies of the oilseed, traders said.

Corn also firmed while wheat futures fell on profit-taking following a three-week rally.

AS of 1:16 p.m. CDT (1816 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade November soybean futures were up 8-1/4 cents at $8.91 per bushel.

December corn was up 4 cents at $3.38 a bushel while September wheat was down 15-1/2 cents at $5.35-1/4 a bushel.

Soybeans advanced after the US Department of Agriculture through its daily reporting system confirmed sales of 522,000 tonnes of US soybeans to China and another 351,000 tonnes to unknown destinations.

China has also booked more than 3 million tonnes of US corn since July 10.

"The sales have been great. We sold a bunch of corn earlier, and now we are getting the beans going. Demand is starting to pick up a little bit, and the farmer is not a particularly big seller," said Jack Scoville, analyst with the Price Futures Group in Chicago.

The latest grain sales came despite concerns about diplomatic tensions over Hong Kong.

Strength in corn in soybean futures was tempered by forecasts for welcome rains over the next 10 days in portions of the Midwest that should boost prospects for big harvests.

However, "some dryness may linger across far southern portions of the Corn Belt, mainly in southern Missouri, southern Illinois, and southern Indiana," space technology company Maxar said in a daily note.

Wheat futures fell more than 2pc as the market paused after a three-week climb in which the CBOT September contract surged more than 80 cents a bushel, from a low of $4.71 on June 26 to Wednesday's high of $5.51-3/4, on fears of tightening global supplies.

Consultancy Strategie Grains on Thursday further reduced its forecast for this year's soft wheat harvest in the European Union.