US corn, soyabean and wheat futures rallied on Thursday, supported by technical buying and hopes for a pick-up in export demand as recent price declines made US supplies more attractive to overseas buyers.
Corn was bouncing off the near 3-1/2-year low it hit on Wednesday after a rout in the energy market slashed demand for the yellow grain at ethanol producers.
But the gains across the agricultural contracts were seen as fragile, with the threat of the coronavirus pandemic wrecking global demand for commodities continuing to cast a bearish tone over the markets.
The US Agriculture Department on Thursday morning said that export sales of totaled 482,000 tonnes in the week ended March 12, in line with a range of market forecasts. Corn export sales of 960,600 tonnes and soyabean export sales of 701,200 tonnes also matched trade estimates.
At 10:09 a.m. CDT (1509 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade May soft red winter wheat futures were up 23-1/4 cents at $5.31-1/2 a bushel.
K.C. hard red winter wheat for May delivery was up 4.7%.
Traders said that wheat, particularly high-protein offerings tracked by the K.C. HRW contracts, drawing support from increased demand for food as people bulk buy due to expectations of shortages amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Three South Korean flour mills bought a total of approximately 136,000 tonnes of milling wheat to be sourced from the United States in a tender, European traders said.
CBOT May corn was 14 cents higher at $3.49-1/4 a bushel and CBOT May soyabeans were 21-1/2 cents higher at $8.47 a bushel.
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