Wheat futures on the Chicago Board of Trade surged more than 3 percent on Monday, heading for their biggest daily gains since October as investors liquidated a portion of the record-large short stake, traders said. Corn and soyabean futures each rose to fresh multimonth highs driven by fund buying and adverse weather conditions in South America. Wheat prices led the way higher, with CBOT May wheat up 16 cents to $4.75-3/4 per bushel as of 12:15 pm CDT (1715 GMT), a roughly two-week high.
The gains came despite rainfall in the southern US Plains, that were seen as mostly beneficial for developing wheat plants, especially in the parched south-western part of the region. Heavy precipitation of as much as 24 inches (61 cm) also caused flash flooding in Texas, killing one person and delaying hundreds of flights.
US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data released after the close of trading on Friday showed speculative investors, including hedge funds, holding a net short in CBOT wheat futures of 152,453 contracts, the biggest net short on the books since 2006. The speculative investors also trimmed their net shorts in corn and extended their net long in soyabeans, the CFTC said.
Analysts polled by Reuters expected the US Department of Agriculture in a report due after the close of trading to show slightly improved crop condition ratings for winter wheat and estimate corn plantings at 14 percent complete. CBOT corn was trading at the highest levels since December and soyabeans the highest since August. Excessively wet weather in Argentina has delayed the soyabean harvest while dry conditions were hampering corn crop development in Brazil. CBOT May corn was up 4-1/4 cents to $3.82-3/4 per bushel and CBOT May soyabeans up 3/4 cents to $9.56-3/4.
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