Chicago | Reuters—Chicago soybean and corn futures turned higher on Tuesday as a flurry of export sales helped stem market pressure from a fast-moving U.S. harvest and improved planting weather in South America, analysts said.
Wheat also gained strength from corn futures and as market players weighed Russian steps to regulate wheat exports, including through a reported price floor for selling in international tenders.
Market participants are focused on demand when global grain supplies are voluminous and U.S. farmers are harvesting a massive crop, analysts said. Typically, U.S. grain prices are lower in the fall, as new crop arrives at rural grain elevators and commercial merchandisers.
Read Also
U.S. grains: Soy futures top one-week high, US crop outlook limits gains
Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures hit their highest level in more than a week on Thursday as technical buying helped the market recover from a three-month low reached on Monday, analysts said.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 settled up 10-3/4 cents at $9.91-3/4 per bushel, while CBOT corn Cv1settled up 7 cents at $4.16-1/2 a bushel. CBOT wheat Wv1settled up 3-3/4 cent to $5.76 per bushel.
“There’s been no harvest pressure,” Tom Fritz, broker at EFG Group, said. “The producer doesn’t want to sell anything. We’ve got some export demand in fear of the possible outcome of the election.”
U.S. soybean export premiums are at their highest in 14 months, as grain merchants race to ship out a record large U.S. harvest ahead of the U.S. presidential election, fearing renewed trade tensions with top importer China, traders and analysts said.
Corn and soybean sales on Monday and an additional corn sale early on Tuesday suggested buying interest after corn and soybean futures hit multi-week lows last week.
The U.S. soybean and corn harvest were both ahead of their five-year average pace, according to a weekly U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report issued after Monday’s market close.
For wheat, showers in parts of southern Russia and the U.S. Plains were expected to help planting and ease concerns over dryness.
—Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore
