US wheat futures rose for a sixth straight session on Thursday on robust demand from domestic livestock feeders and exporters, which booked their biggest weekly sales in two years last week. Corn prices climbed for the fifth time in six sessions, supported by concerns about tight old-crop supplies and a weaker US dollar, which makes the grain more competitive on the world market.
Soyabeans fell for a third straight session on South American harvest pressure and concerns about slowing import demand from top buyer China. "The demand for wheat has picked back up. We had good, solid wheat export numbers this morning. Corn and wheat are roughly on par in value so we're seeing more wheat feeding and we're seeing some wheat trickle into the ethanol market in the eastern corn belt," said Karl Setzer, an analyst with MaxYield Co-operative.
"There's a little bit of the risk premium coming out of the soyabeans. There's not as much concern today as there was three months ago over depleting soya inventories," he said. Chicago Board of Trade May-delivery wheat rose 14-3/4 cents to a two-week high of $7.24-3/4 per bushel, a 2.1 percent gain that was the strongest in two months. March futures expired at noon at $7.14-1/4, up 7 cents.
May corn added 6-1/4 cents, or 0.9 percent, at $7.16-1/2 a bushel, while May soyabeans fell 11-1/2 cents, or 0.8 percent, to $14.35-1/2 per bushel. March corn expired 8-1/2 cents lower at $7.32-3/4 and March soya expired at $14.57-1/4, down 17-3/4 cents. Commodity funds bought an estimated net 8,000 corn contracts and 4,000 wheat contracts on the day and sold a net 5,000 soyabean contracts, trade sources said.
Weekly US Department of Agriculture data showed a net 888,500 tonnes of wheat export sales for the current marketing year and 198,500 tonnes for the next marketing year. Combined sales were the largest for a single week since February 2011. Russian plans to buy wheat on the domestic market from August to October to replenish depleted stocks were also supportive as the move could limit some competition for US wheat from low-cost Russian grain.
The rally in wheat has taken it away from its lowest level in nine months, struck last week when prices fell on weak demand and improved conditions in the drought-hit US grain belt. Demand for feed-grade wheat has firmed since then, following corn's rise above wheat after the USDA pegged corn end-of-season stocks for the 2012/13 year at a 17-year low. US soyabean futures have come under pressure from a rapidly advancing South American harvest. Traders said Brazilian beans were now being offered at prices competitive enough to appeal to traders, despite a backlog of shipments.
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