US corn futures rose 2.5 percent on Monday in thin US Columbus Day holiday trade as rains in the Midwest crop belt stalled the harvest of a record-large crop, slowing the movement of grain into marketing channels, traders said. Soyabeans and wheat followed corn's lead, with a weaker dollar supporting grains, making them more attractive to those holding other currencies.
"The harvest has been slowed and that is supporting the cash markets," said Terry Linn of the Linn Group, a Chicago brokerage. At the Chicago Board of Trade as of 11:11 am CDT (1611 GMT), December corn was up 8-1/2 cents at $3.42-1/2 per bushel. November soyabeans were up 14 cents at $9.36-1/2 a bushel. Traders noted firming cash values for both crops at the US Gulf as the showers curtailed grain movement.
Early efforts to press the market lower lacked follow-through, another supportive factor. Volume was light as Monday's Columbus Day federal holiday kept some traders away from their desks. Due to the holiday, the US Department of Agriculture's weekly export inspections and crop progress reports were delayed until Tuesday. USDA pegged the 2014/15 corn crop at 14.475 billion bushels, up from 14.395 billion in September, although below the average trade estimate of 14.506 billion bushels in a Reuters poll.
For soyabeans, the USDA estimated the US crop at a record 3.927 billion bushels, up 17 percent from the recently revised 2013 crop but a touch below the average trade estimate at 3.976 billion. CBOT December wheat was up 4 cents at $5.02-1/2 per bushel. The wheat market drew support from short-covering and follow-through buying from Friday after USDA cut its 2014/15 world wheat ending stocks forecast to 192.6 million tonnes. But traders said global supply remained hefty.