Wheat, corn jump ahead of USDA data; soybeans plumb new low

CHICAGO: US wheat and corn futures climbed as much as 1 percent on Tuesday while soybeans turned slightly higher after touching the lowest levels since August as traders squared up positions ahead of a U.S. Department of Agriculture supply and demand report.

Analysts polled by Reuters expected the USDA at 11 a.m. CDT (1600 GMT) to make only minor adjustments to U.S. and global grain and soy supplies estimates, including a small increase in U.S. all-wheat production.

Grain prices stabilized after recent steep declines as the United States-North Korea summit in Singapore stoked expectations of easing trade tensions between the United States and China, potentially boosting exports.

"There is a bounce from the low levels today ... There is hope that reduced political tension in Asia could be positive for the U.S./China trade dispute, especially for the exports of U.S. soybeans to China, even though the Singapore summit was not directly about China," said Charles Clack, agricultural commodity analyst at Rabobank.

Chicago Board of Trade July corn futures were up 5 cents to $3.72-1/4 per bushel and CBOT July wheat up 2-3/4 cents to $5.17-1/4 a bushel as of 10:33 a.m. CDT (1533 GMT).

CBOT July soybeans were 1 cent higher at $9.54-3/4, recovering from their earlier multimonth low of $9.52.

Prices for each commodity had been on a downward trajectory due to both good U.S. growing conditions for corn and soy, and trade tensions with top buyers of American commodities including China, Mexico and Canada.

USDA late on Monday reduced good-to-excellent crop condition ratings for the corn and soy crops by 1 percentage point but the ratings still are some of the best in years while weekend rainfall in the Midwest also benefited crops.

"The market's weather worries are still with us, even if they have been somewhat alleviated since late last week," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.