Chicago Board of Trade corn futures rallied nearly 2 percent on Friday on a falling dollar and a surge in wheat, traders and analysts said. "Typically when we see the dollar drop the perception is for an improved export outlook and I think that's in the back of traders minds today," said Dale Gustafson, analyst for Citigroup.
CBOT corn closed 10 cents per bushel higher to 1/2 lower, with December up 6-1/2 at $3.69-1/4 per bushel. Slow shipments of export corn from China and continued suspension of corn exports from Argentina also contributed to the advances, they said.
"This morning we had reports the Argentine suspension remained in place and there are delays in shipping corn from China, plus I think the forecasts for cold weather by next week will boost feed demand, so that's a little supportive as well," Gustafson said.
The volume was trimmed after the US Thanksgiving holiday. The CBOT markets were closed on Thursday for the holiday, reopened overnight and closed early at noon CST on Friday. Chinese exporters are to delay corn shipments scheduled for November and December as most of the new harvest will come to market in December, traders in Beijing said on Friday. This news comes as Argentina continues its suspension of new-crop corn export registrations.
Also, the US dollar was falling on Friday - typically a supportive factor as a falling dollar makes US commodities more attractively priced to world grain buyers.
US export sales from last week were strong but below trade expectations. USDA on Friday said 1,042,200 tonnes of corn were sold for export last week, below trade estimates for 1,150,000 to 1,350,000 tonnes. Spot basis bids in the US Midwest were steady early Friday, with sales slow after the holiday.
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