PARIS/JAKARTA: Chicago corn futures rose on Thursday, steadying after plunging the previous day on a higher than expected estimate of US stocks, while wheat rose with support from a large import tender announced by Saudi Arabia.
The most active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 0.5percent at USD5.03-1/4 a bushel by 1127 GMT.
The benchmark earlier fell to a six-week low at USD4.98-1/4, adding to Wednesday’s 4.1percent drop, before recovering to move back above the psychological USD5 threshold.
US farmers and grain handlers had 35percent more corn in storage on September 1 than a year earlier, the US Department of Agriculture said on Wednesday, a bigger than expected increase following a large harvest in 2025.
The widely followed stocks estimate wrong-footed investors holding a big long position in corn. The data “had a shock effect on the corn market”, Argus analysts said in a note.
Corn prices traded around three-year highs last month as falling expectations for US yields and harvest rain delays in parts of the Midwest raised the prospect of tightening supply.
Weather forecasts now point to drier conditions in much of the Midwest in early October.