Corn futures tread water as farmers assess US storm damage

CHICAGO: US corn futures were flat on Tuesday as traders and analysts predicted that farmers will harvest a large crop despite a damaging storm that tore across the Midwest on Monday.

Soybean futures were also flat, while wheat futures rose on technical buying.

Farmers are assessing the damage to their corn from hurricane-force winds that flattened some fields in Iowa and Illinois.

About 200 million to 400 million bushels may have been destroyed, said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for broker StoneX. He estimated the storm reduced the national yield by 2.5 to 4.5 bushels per acre.

The farm sector may suffer an even bigger hit from damage to steel bins needed to store corn from the autumn harvest, Suderman said.

"You're still left with an adequate supply of corn," Suderman said.

The most active corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade were up 1/2 cent at $3.23-1/2 a bushel by 12:15 CDT (1715 GMT).

Traders said they will check weekly crop-condition ratings from the US Department of Agriculture on Monday as part of efforts to determine the extent of damage from the storm.

"We're not going to get too excited or overanxious about rallying sharply because we don't know how much damage has been done," said Brian Hoops, president of broker Midwest Market Solutions.

Price movements were modest as farm markets consolidated following multi-week lows in the past few days and ahead of Wednesday's August supply and demand report from the USDA.

CBOT soybeans were up 1/2 cent at $8.73-3/4 a bushel, while wheat was up 5-1/4 cents at $4.96-1/4 a bushel.

The United States faces stiff competition for wheat exports from Russia, Hoops said. Egypt's state grain buyer, GASC, on Tuesday bought 120,000 tonnes of Russian wheat at its latest international purchasing tender.