Corn, soy, wheat surge on lower-than-expected US grain stocks

CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade corn and wheat futures on Wednesday reached their highest prices since March while soybean futures surged, after the US Department of Agriculture surprised traders by reporting crop inventories that were smaller than expected.

Supply levels have declined after China, the world's top soybean importer, stepped up its purchases of US farm goods this summer.

Corn supplies dropped by 3.024 billion bushels and soybean supplies fell by 858 million bushels during the three months ended Sept. 1, the second-biggest summer drawdowns ever for both commodities, according to the USDA's quarterly stocks report. "We're staring down the barrel of a tighter soybean carryout that is bullish," said Terry Reilly, senior analyst for Futures International.

The most-active November soybean contract was up 33 cents at $10.26 a bushel by 12:39 p.m. CDT (1739 GMT) and reached its highest price in more than a week. Corn soared 15-1/2 cents to $3.80-1/4 a bushel and hit its highest price since March 6. Wheat climbed 28-1/4 cents to $5.77-3/4 a bushel and set its highest price since March 27.

The gains benefit US farmers who are about to harvest large corn and soybean crops.

"The farmer has no incentive to take their beans and put them into storage," said Joe Vaclavik, president of Standard Grain brokerage. "The incentive is to take the beans and sell them."

Soybean stocks as of Sept. 1 stood at 523 million bushels, according to the USDA. Corn stocks were 1.995 billion bushels and wheat stocks were 2.159 billion bushels.

Some brokers questioned the data's accuracy because of lingering uncertainty about the size of last year's US harvests.

On Thursday, traders will assess separate USDA data on weekly export sales.

"China has been holding the reins of the bull market and it will be crucial to see if export sales continue at a rapid clip," said Rabobank commodity analyst Michael Magdovitz.