US MIDDAY: corn, soya surge

Front-month corn and soyabean futures rose on Wednesday on concerns that supplies will dwindle before the next harvest, while deferred contracts sank. Inventories of crops left over from last year's drought-reduced harvest are scarce ahead of the autumn harvest. Rain- delayed planting this spring will likely mean a late harvest, so supplies will need to stretch longer into the autumn.
However, the springtime rains could boost the size of the crops and help replenish inventories after harvest begins. Traders were buying the nearby, or old-crop, contracts and selling the new-crop contracts in spread trades. "The tight supplies in old-crop corn ... that's definitely supporting the July contract," said Paul Georgy, president of Allendale. "There's more talk among people that the rain now is beneficial."
Nearby prices, especially for soyabeans, were also underpinned by concerns that near-term demand could whittle down stocks more than currently forecast. "I think there is a concern that we are crushing at an unsustainable rate," said Rich Feltes, vice president of research for RJ O'Brien. Chicago Board of Trade July soyabeans, the spot contract, climbed 3-1/4 cents, or 0.2 percent, to $15.32 per bushel after earlier hitting a peak of $15.49, the highest level for a spot contract in seven months. New-crop November fell 16 cents, or 1.2 percent, to $13.00 a bushel.
CBOT July corn rose 1/4 cent to $6.60-3/4 a bushel while December corn fell 10-3/4 cents, or 1.9 percent, to $5.42-1/4 a bushel. CBOT July wheat was settled down 7-1/2 cents, or 1.1 percent, at $7.01-1/2 a bushel. Nearby contracts of both commodities settled below their session highs after late-session profit-taking. The new-crop contracts were pressured by ideas that farmers will be able to plant their intended acreage, despite the abundant rain that delayed spring fieldwork.
"The sowing program is a bit behind but they are catching up quickly, and with good weather it will come to an end," said Andrew Woodhouse, grains analyst at Advance Trading Australasia. Wheat slipped slightly, even as South Korea said on Wednesday that it had found no genetically modified grain in tests so far on imports from the US state of Oregon. Korean millers last week suspended wheat imports from the United States, pending tests, after news that unapproved genetically modified wheat had been found growing in Oregon. The discovery of the GMO wheat sparked fears that importing countries would turn away from US wheat.