Corn boosted by US planting delays, as wheat, soy edge up

LONDON: Chicago corn futures rose for a sixth consecutive session on Wednesday boosted by concerns about planting delays in the US Midwest due to wet weather, while wheat and corn prices also edged higher.

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade was up 0.7 percent at $3.65 a bushel as of 1105 GMT.

Commonwealth Bank of Australia analyst Tobin Gorey said the corn market should remain firm "while planting is impeded by wet weather in significant portions of the US Midwest."

The US Department of Agriculture said this week that 15 percent of the US corn crop had been planted, as of April 28, well behind the average pace of 27 percent.

"Abundant showers across much of the (Midwest) region this week will continue to slow corn and soybean planting," Radiant Solutions said in a weather outlook issued on Tuesday.

If planting delays stretch into late May, some farmers may switch acres from corn to later-planted soy.

The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade was up 0.03 percent at $8.54-1/4 a bushel.

Volumes were reduced by a holiday in many European countries and European wheat futures on Paris-based Euronext were closed.

CBOT's most active wheat contract rose 0.7 percent to $4.31-3/4 a bushel in a modest rebound after the market's recent slide although a generally favourable outlook for crops the United States and Russia was seen limiting any price recovery.

Crop scouts on the first day of an annual three-day tour of Kansas hard red winter wheat fields projected on Tuesday an average yield of 46.9 bushels per acre (bpa) in the northern portion of the state.

That figure is above the Wheat Quality Council tour's five-year average for the same area of 39.5 bpa and up from the tour's year-ago finding of 38.2 bpa.

The grain market shrugged off optimism for a breakthrough in US-China trade negotiations.

A trade deal could trigger accelerated US commodities purchases by China, which would help whittle down massive stockpiles of crops such as soybeans, corn and wheat.

The administration of US President Donald Trump does not have any active plans to provide more aid to farmers but could consider the option if trade negotiations and weak commodity prices linger, US Secretary of Agriculture Sonny Perdue said on Tuesday.