Chicago corn, soy futures rise ahead of USDA report

BEIJING: Chicago corn and soybean futures rose on Friday as market participants prepared for the US Department of Agriculture’s closely watched supply-and-demand report due later in the day.

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.1% to $4.52-1/4 a bushel by 0352 GMT. Soybeans gained 0.1% to $11.82-1/4 a bushel, while wheat was unchanged at $6.19-3/4 a bushel. Corn has gained 2.4% so far this week, while wheat is up 3.3% and soybeans have risen 3%.

Traders adjusted positions ahead of the USDA’s monthly supply-and-demand report, which will incorporate the agency’s end-June acreage and grain stocks estimates.

Ahead of the weekly USDA export sales data due later in the day, traders expected the government to report net sales of US old-crop soybeans in the week ended July 2 at 50,000 to 500,000 metric tons and net new-crop sales of 150,000 to 500,000 tons.

For grains, traders expected the government to show net sales of US wheat in the week ended July 2 at 250,000 to 600,000 tons and up to 1.1 million tons of net sales of US old-crop corn and new-crop corn sales of up to 900,000 tons.

Soybean prices have been boosted by the USDA’s confirmation of private sales of 472,000 tons of US soybeans to China this week.

Separately, Reuters reported that Chinese state grain trader COFCO purchased at least 10 cargoes, or about 600,000 tons, of US soybeans this week.

Forecasts have pointed to widespread showers and more moderate heat in the coming days across much of the grain belt after a hot period in the US Midwest that had worried investors ahead of the pollination period for corn.

Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT corn and net buyers of wheat, traders said on Thursday.