US corn futures on Thursday rebounded from a seven-month low after three days of declines in a short-covering bounce and following a government report showing higher ethanol output and lower stocks of the corn-based biofuel. Wheat futures were mixed as a weaker dollar and concerns about the outlook for crops in Russia kept a floor under the market, but sluggish US export demand continued to restrict gains.
Soyabeans drifted lower on rising global supplies and expectations that the settlement of a strike in Argentina will speed up its soya shipments and chill US export interest. The dollar was slightly weaker against a basket of currencies on Thursday after hitting a one-month high the prior day, helping crude oil and other commodity markets recover from recent losses.
"To see a little bit of buying at these levels is not that surprising. The dollar play is coming into it today as well," said Karl Setzer, analyst with Max Yield Co-operative. Chicago Board of Trade July corn rose 4 cents, or 1.1 percent, to $3.53-1/2 a bushel after sinking to a low of $3.48-1/4 earlier in the session, the lowest price for a spot contract since October 21.
The market received a lift from US Energy Information Administration data showing an 11,000-barrel-per-day uptick in weekly ethanol production last week and a sizable 337,000-barrel drawdown in stocks. CBOT July soft red winter wheat gained a penny to $4.88-3/4 a bushel while July hard red winter wheat shed 1-3/4 cents to $5.10-1/4 a bushel.
Wheat prices remain anchored by sluggish US export demand, but growing doubts about optimistic Russian wheat crop forecasts have buoyed prices. Farmers in Russia's Rostov region, one of the most important for wheat exports, face flat or lower wheat yields this year due to a lack of rain last autumn and the current hot weather may worsen the situation. The purchase by Egypt's government grain buyer GASC of 240,000 tonnes of Russian and Romanian wheat in a snap tender served as a reminder of US wheat's challenges in the global marketplace. No US grain was offered in the tender. The CBOT July soyabean contract was a penny lower at $9.26 a bushel, posting its sixth decline in seven sessions. The August through November 2016 contracts set new contract lows.
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