Corn, soy futures rise as markets wrestle with weather risks to US planting

CHICAGO: US corn and soy futures edged higher on Monday as traders assessed the risk for wet weather to disrupt farmers' spring plantings.

Bad weather is a worry because floods hit parts of Nebraska, Iowa and Missouri this year, and yields can decline if crops are planted too late. More rain is expected in the Delta region, eastern Plains and Midwest this week, after showers stalled planting in the Delta over the weekend, according to Radiant Solutions, a U.S. weather firm.

Traders are not overly concerned about possible delays yet, though, because large planting machines allow farmers to sow their crops quickly.

"The adverse weather in the U.S. is beginning to attract some attention," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier, analyst for Summit Commodity Brokerage in Iowa. "We doubt that it will have much market impact unless it persists into early May.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a weekly crop progress report on Monday, should show that farmers planted 5 percent of their intended corn acres as of Sunday, up from 2 percent a week earlier, according to a Reuters survey.

The most active corn futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade  were up 1-1/2 cents at $3.62-1/2 a bushel as of 11:45 a.m. CDT (1645 GMT). CBOT soybean futures were up 4 cents at $8.99-1/4 a bushel.

Hopes for a trade deal between Washington and Beijing helped support prices, analysts said, after the dispute slashed shipments of American farm products to China last year.

"It's still positive chatter over the U.S.-China trade talks ... that we're getting closer to some kind of resolution," said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based broker U.S. Commodities.

U.S. negotiators have tempered demands that China curb industrial subsidies as a condition for a trade deal after strong resistance from Beijing, according to two sources briefed on discussions, marking a retreat on a core U.S. objective for the trade talks.

China's Ministry of Commerce separately confirmed it was starting a review of anti-dumping tariffs imposed on imports of U.S. distillers grains.

In the wheat market, prices eased as hefty global inventories outweighed concerns about spring U.S. planting delays.

Agriculture consultancy SovEcon raised its forecast for Russia's 2019 wheat crop to 83.4 million tonnes from 80 million tonnes, signalling bigger supplies in the world's top exporter.

"We're getting overwhelmed with the fact that U.S. and world ending stocks are still on the rise," Roose said.

CBOT wheat was down 5 cents at $4.59-1/2 a bushel.