Tuesday, 14 July 2015 16:28
LONDON: Chicago corn futures rose to a one-year high on Tuesday before the recent run-up finally stalled on a more favourable weather outlook for crops in the United States where yields have been threatened by heavy rains. Soybeans rose as US crop conditions deteriorated slightly while wheat prices edged higher.
Chicago Board of Trade September corn was off 0.2 percent at $ 4.39-3/4 a bushel at 1035 GMT after peaking at $ 4.43-1/4, the highest level for the contract since July 2014.
“Weather forecasters continue to expect a better turn in the weather for much of the US corn belt even if some areas remain too wet right now,” Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia, said in a note.
“But the market has grown sceptical about this drier turn in the weather so is likely to wait for it to happen before giving up corn’s price gains.”
The US Department of Agriculture late on Monday estimated 69 percent of the US corn crop was in good-to-excellent condition, unchanged from a week earlier but down from 76 percent at the same stage last year. USDA rated 62 percent of US soybeans good-to-excellent, slightly down from 63 percent a week ago and below last year’s 72 percent.
Analysts had expected both corn and soybeans to be trimmed by 1 percent.
CBOT August soybeans were up 0.6 percent to $ 10.43-3/4 a bushel.
Dealers said soybean market continued to be buoyed by strong demand from top buyer China. China imported 8.09 million tonnes of soybeans in June, the second highest monthly imports as crushers increased imports to take advantage of cheap South American supplies.
“(China) is also set to import large quantities of soybeans in July and August,” Commerzbank analyst Michaela Kuhl said.
“Brazil above all is once again likely to profit particularly from the still dynamically growing demand from China in the coming 2015/16 season and thus further expand its production,” she added in a market note.
Wheat futures edged higher with CBOT September up 0.5 percent at $ 5.78-3/4 a bushel while September wheat in Paris rising 0.4 percent to 194.25 euros a tonne.
The wheat market was focused on a tender floated by Egypt, the world’s biggest importer, although US suppliers are not expected to win business.
Egypt’s General Authority for Supply Commodities set a tender on Monday to buy an unspecified amount of wheat from global suppliers for shipment from Aug. 21-31.
