Corn and wheat up

US corn and wheat futures rose on Thursday as the grain markets recovered from around one-month lows on a weakening dollar and steady crude prices. Soybeans fell marginally in thin trade ahead of the US Department of Agriculture report on world agricultural demand and supply, due to be released at 1330 GMT.
"The market is up slightly because of the US dollar but basically it is position-squaring before the report," said Genichiro Higaki, head of the proprietary fund management team at Sumitomo Corp in Tokyo. "Ahead of the USDA report there won't be much action...at the same time USDA will not make a big change in the report tonight, which is the usual case for December."
But analysts in the United States expect the report to show China's aggressive demand for US soybeans will trim supply despite production of a record-large crop while slow US wheat and corn exports will lift ending stocks of those grains. Chicago Board of Trade December corn rose 0.3 percent to $3.69-1/4 a bushel by 0343 GMT, after falling in the previous session to $3.63-3/4, its lowest level in more than a month.
December wheat rose 0.7 percent to $5.18-1/2 a bushel, ending a seven-day losing streak. The dollar index fell against a basket of currencies on Thursday, while crude oil gained after settling at a two-month low below $71 a barrel a day earlier due to large increases in US refined product supplies amid weak demand.
A weakening dollar makes exports of US commodities cheaper for overseas buyers and oil often guides movement in the prices of grains and oilseeds because of their use in biofuels. Investors are also watching weather in the United States, where a blizzard in the Midwest and the plains has stalled the final phase of the corn harvest, although ample supplies and poor demand are unlikely to cause a huge concern.
The USDA said 12 percent of the corn crop was still in the fields as of Sunday, or about 1.5 billion bushels of the forecast 12.9-billion bushel crop. Soybean futures - which climbed to a three-month top last week on fund buying and strong Chinese demand - extended losses to around a two-week low.
CBOT January soybeans fell 0.4 percent to $10.24-1/2 per bushel. China's Dalian soy futures also dropped, with the most-active September contract losing almost 2.5 percent by the midday. China, the world's largest soy importer, is likely to import 42.48 million tonnes of soybean for all of 2009, a rise of 13.5 percent from last year, according to a state-backed think-tank.