Corn firms, edges up from near 5-month low

SYDNEY: US corn rose for the first time in four sessions on Thursday, edging up from a near five-month low touched earlier in the session, after a widely watched crop tour reported lower yield estimates in a key producing region.

Soybeans edged higher for a third consecutive session, while wheat also nudged higher.

The most active corn futures on the Chicago Board Of Trade were trading up 0.2 percent at $3.56-1/2 a bushel by 0345 GMT, having earlier hit a low of $3.55-1/4 a bushel - the lowest since March 31. Corn closed down 1.2 percent on Wednesday and has slid more than 7 percent this month.

The uptick in support came as the Farm Journal Midwest Crop Tour said Illinois corn yields are projected to fall about 6.6 percent from last year's near-record crop after surveying 205 fields across the No. 2 corn-producing state.

The tour estimated yields in Illinois at 180.72 bushels per acre (bpa), below the US Department of Agriculture's latest forecast this month of 188 bpa.

"The surveys from this region needed to be poor for the market to retain its collective scepticism," said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy, Commonwealth Bank of Australia.

The most active wheat futures were up 0.1 percent at$4.30-1/2 a bushel after closing up 0.2 percent on Wednesday.

The most active soybean futures were up 0.3 percent at $9.41-1/2 a bushel, having closed little changed in the previous session.

Soybeans were supported as Argentine biodiesel exports are expected to be priced out of the US market after Washington decided on Tuesday to impose steep duties on imports that it said were unfairly subsidised.

Gains were capped after the US Department of Agriculture said private exporters cancelled sales of 640,970 tonnes of US soybeans sold to China for delivery in the 2016/17 marketing year.