Corn jumps 1% on strong Chinese demand; wheat recovers

SINGAPORE: Chicago corn futures bounced back on Thursday, with prices climbing 1%, as strong demand from China underpinned the market.

Wheat rose after three sessions of losses, while soybeans inched higher.

"The decline in prices encouraged buyers to cover supplies and that is now supporting prices," said a Singapore-based feed grains trader at an international food supply company.

"China has been buying US corn consistently for the last few days."

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade (CBOT) was up 1% at $6.64-1/2 a bushel by 0309 GMT, having closed largely flat in the previous session.

Soybeans gained 0.7% to $15.48-1/2 a bushel and wheat rose 1% to $6.86 a bushel.

The US Agriculture Department on Wednesday announced sale to China for the fifth consecutive day.

The 2021-22 marketing year is still a few months away, but China within the last few days has secured nearly a third of its expected corn needs out of the United States for next season, Karen Braun, a market analyst for Reuters wrote in a column.

Argentina's grains exports were paralysed after port workers launched a strike over what they described as a lack of COVID-19 vaccinations among members, the head of the Port and Maritime Activities chamber told Reuters by telephone.

Improved growing conditions are likely to cap gains in wheat prices.

Germany's 2021 wheat crop of all types is expected to increase by 2.4% year-on-year to around 22.66 million tonnes, the country's association of farm cooperatives said in its latest harvest estimate on Wednesday.

Crop scouts on the second day of an annual three-day tour of Kansas projected an average yield for hard red winter wheat in the southwestern portion of the state at 56.7 bushels per acre, up from 47.6 bushels in 2019.

Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT corn, soybean, wheat, soyoil and soymeal futures contracts on Wednesday, traders said.