CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade corn futures soared 4% on Tuesday as fresh US export sales to China fueled concerns about tightening US and global grain supplies, traders said.

CBOT March corn settled up 20-3/4 cents, or 4.1%, at $5.32-1/4 per bushel.

Buying accelerated after the US Department of Agriculture confirmed private sales of 1.36 million tonnes of US corn to China, the largest such sale since July. Traders noted chart resistance at the March contract’s Jan. 13 top of $5.41-1/2, the highest price on a continuous chart of the most-active corn contract since mid-2013. China has bought “roughly 200 million gallons” of US ethanol for the first half of 2021, matching its previous record for annual imports of the corn-based biofuel, an Archer Daniels Midland Co executive said.

A USDA attache in Argentina estimated the country’s 2020/21 corn harvest at 47.0 million tonnes, below the USDA’s official forecast of 47.5 million.