Corn jumps

US corn climbed 1.6 percent to its highest in nearly three weeks on Thursday, lifted by large export sales, while wheat futures also rose as grain prices rebounded after two sessions of declines. Soyabean futures edged lower at the Chicago Board of Trade, pressured by export sales results showing further evidence that demand was shifting seasonally to freshly harvested South American supplies.
Traders in each pit were squaring positions ahead of the US Agriculture Department's quarterly grain stocks and annual spring plantings reports due on Monday, a day that also marks the last trading session of the month and quarter. "Corn prices were trading lower until the release of better-than-expected export sales lifted the market into slightly positive territory," Art Liming, a market strategist at Citigroup in Chicago, said in a note to clients. "Large sales were booked to Egypt last week, likely replacing Black Sea origin."
In its weekly export sales release early on Thursday, the USDA pegged corn sales last week at 1.4 million tonnes, roughly double the high end of analysts' expectations that ranged from 525,000 to 725,000 tonnes. Egypt accounted for 431,000 tonnes of the corn sales and was the largest buyer for the week. That country typically purchases the bulk of their corn needs from Black Sea shippers such as Ukraine. But political turmoil in the region has led to increased demand from the United States, the No 1 corn producer and exporter.
CBOT May corn futures gained 7-1/2 cents to $4.92 per bushel, finishing just below their session high of $4.92-3/4, the highest level on a continuous chart since March 7. CBOT May wheat ended 13-3/4 higher cents at $7.10-1/2 per bushel, a gain of 2 percent. Investment funds bought 10,000 corn contracts, 7,000 wheat contracts and sold 2,000 soyabean contracts, trade sources said.
"We really could not push this market lower," Shawn McCambridge, analyst at Jefferies Bache in Chicago, said of wheat. "We went through yesterday's low and just did not have the selling interest. I do think a lot of it is being supported by the funds, and as long as they want to defend these long positions, going into the end of the month and the quarter, it is going to be hard to pressure this market." Soyabeans for May delivery eased 3-1/2 cents to $14.36-1/2 per bushel, snapping what had been a three-session streak of gains.
The USDA showed soyabean export sales last week of just 11,900 tonnes, near the marketing-year low notched in mid-February. Many international buyers such as top global importer China are sourcing the bulk of their beans from Brazil and Argentina.