Soybeans, wheat and corn boosted by weak dollar, fund buying
- Corn reached a 2-1/2 week high on Wednesday
Chicago Board of Trade corn, wheat, and soybean futures gained on Thursday, as a weakening dollar made US crops more affordable for importers using other currencies, and speculators bought into the rally.
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.2% at $4.31 a bushel by 0509 GMT, while CBOT soybeans gained 0.2% to $10.77-1/2 a bushel and wheat was up 0.3% at $5.37-3/4 a bushel.
Corn reached a 2-1/2 week high on Wednesday, with wheat hitting an eight-week high and soybeans a seven-week high on the same day.
“It’s all about US dollar’s drops,” said Vitor Pistoia, an analyst at Rabobank.
“A weaker dollar makes US exports cheaper,” and can increase trading demand.“
The greenback was near a four-year low hit on Tuesday after weakening rapidly over the last two weeks.
US President Donald Trump’s reference to its value as “great” has raised expectations of further weakness.
Pressuring the dollar are expectations of continued Federal Reserve interest rate cuts, tariff uncertainty, threats to the Fed independence and rising fiscal deficits, all of which have eroded investor confidence in the US economy.
Commodity funds were significant net buyers of CBOT corn, wheat and soybean futures on Wednesday, traders said.
“There was an outsized level of short-covering from the managed money crowd today,” StoneX analyst Bevan Everett wrote of wheat in a note. However, a plentiful global supply of all three crops is keeping prices relatively low compared with their peaks in 2022.
In top soybean producer Brazil, grain cooperative Coamo said it expects its 2026 harvest to be the largest ever.
Agricultural consultancy Sovecon on Tuesday raised its 2025/26 Russian wheat export forecast by 1.1 million metric tons to 45.7 million tons. Russia is the biggest wheat exporter.
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