Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures climbed for a third straight day on Friday and corn scaled to a 1-1/2 week top on follow-through buying after bullish U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) crop data the prior day and concerns about poor South American weather.
Both markets gained more than two per cent since USDA unexpectedly cut its 2022 U.S. harvest estimates in a monthly report on Thursday and forecast tighter supplies than traders had expected.
Read Also
Alberta crop conditions improve: report
Varied precipitation and warm temperatures were generally beneficial for crop development across Alberta during the week ended July 8, according to the latest provincial crop report released July 11.
Traders also focused on adverse crop weather in South America and squared positions ahead of a three-day weekend, with U.S. markets closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
“It’s a little bit of follow-through buying from yesterday and it’s a little bit of positioning ahead of the long weekend,” said Craig Turner, a grain broker with StoneX.
“I’m not sure you want to be short corn and soybeans heading into a long weekend during a weather market in South America.”
Rain is expected in some areas of Argentina over the next two weeks, but a large share of its corn and soybean crops will remain stressed by the country’s worst drought in 60 years, forecasters said.
Chicago Board of Trade March soybeans settled up 9-1/4 cents at $15.27-3/4 a bushel, with a weekly gain of 2.3 per cent (all figures US$). March corn added four cents to $6.75 a bushel for a 3.2 per cent weekly gain that was its strongest in 4-1/2 months.
Wheat futures were mixed as traders weighed USDA’s larger-than-expected winter wheat plantings estimate in Thursday’s reports against tighter supplies and poor crop conditions in the U.S. Plains farm belt.
CBOT March wheat was up one cent at $7.43-3/4 a bushel, near unchanged for the week.
— Reporting for Reuters by Karl Plume; additional reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
