Corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were higher early on Wednesday with some forecasts for warmer and drier weather by next week in the US Midwest lending support, traders said. Corn also found support from strong gains in soy and wheat and from a short-covering bounce after the abrupt breakdown of prices on Monday and again on Tuesday, they said.
At 10:26 am CDT (1526 GMT), CBOT corn was up 3-3/4 to down 1/2 cent per bushel, with September up 2-3/4 at $3.25-1/4 per bushel. New-crop December was up 3-1/2 at $3.40-1/2 per bushel.
R.J. O'Brien bought 500 December and J.P. Morgan sold 1,000 December. Traders said the corn futures market would remain volatile as the crop nears the final third of its key pollination or reproductive stage of development.
A turn to cooler and wetter weather this week was conducive to excellent pollination success which will led to prospects for a bumper, likely record large corn crop this year in the United States.
However, early Wednesday some meteorologists were beginning to warn of a potential shift to warmer and drier weather by next week in the Midwest, which could begin to trim some bushels from this year's crop. Oat futures were down 1-1/4 to up 3/4 cent per bushel, with September down 1-1/4 at $2.47-1/2 per bushel.