CHICAGO: Chicago corn prices surged to the highest level in nearly three weeks on Thursday as worries over storm damage in the US Midwest countered pressure from huge government harvest forecasts, while soyabeans climbed to a 10-day high amid brisk export demand.
The rally added strength to wheat, too, despite ample global supplies weighing over the market.
In widely followed monthly forecasts, the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) said on Wednesday US farmers would reap a record corn harvest and a second-biggest soyabean crop, buoyed by favorable weather.
However, selling pressure was limited after prices already touched multi-week lows in the past few days. The market was also assessing the impact of Monday's derecho storm, which came after the Aug. 1 cut-off point for crop conditions used by USDA for its August forecasts.
The storm potentially impacted some 10 million acres of farmland in Iowa, the top US corn growing state, according to state authorities.
USDA reported on Thursday that Chinese buyers booked deals to buy 197,000 tonnes of US soyabeans, the seventh weekday in a row that the government has reported a sale to the world's top buyer of the oilseed.
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade was up 3.13% at $3.37-1/2 a bushel at 1533 GMT.
Traders said a recent slide in corn, which led the European Union this week to re-introduce a corn import tariff, also was helping to fuel Thursday's price rally for US supplies.
CBOT soyabeans rose 1.93% to $9.00 a bushel, but earlier had climbed to $9.00-3/4 a bushel, the highest since July 27.
CBOT wheat rose 1.42% to $4.98-1/4 a bushel.
The wheat market was awaiting the outcome of a second import tender this week by Egypt, expected to confirm the competitiveness of Russian supplies.
Comments
Comments are closed for this article.