CHICAGO: Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures soared by more than 5% on Friday to extend a rebound from four-month lows this week, supported by easing fears of a global recession and signs of renewed importer demand, analysts said.

Corn also rose to move further away from a seven-month low touched this week, and soybeans continued to recover from a six-month low.

“It was all about fear when we were selling,” said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist for broker StoneX. “Now the market is seeing a bounce back because it realized it had gone down too far.” The most-active wheat contract on the CBOT was up 47-1/2 cents at $8.84 a bushel by 11:45 a.m. CDT (1645 GMT) and touched its highest price since July 1. CBOT corn rose 20-1/2 cents to $6.16-3/4 a bushel, while soybeans gained 22-1/2 cents to trade at $13.88 a bushel.

“Receding macro worries, and what most would regard as too low prices, set the market up for these gains,” said Robin Gore, director of agricultural strategy at the Commonwealth Bank of Australia, referring to the move in wheat prices.

Traders said there was market chatter about China showing interest in foreign wheat for possible import purchases. China, the world’s biggest soy importer, and unknown buyers in the week ended June 30 canceled purchases of about 465,000 tonnes of US soybeans for 2021/22, the US Department of Agriculture said in a weekly export sales report.

“Now that we have had the break in prices, look for China to come in to do some buying for soybeans, as well as for corn and wheat,” Suderman said.

Traders continued to assess weather for US Midwest corn and soybean crops ahead of a monthly US Department of Agriculture crop report on Tuesday. The corn crop is entering a critical phase of development.