Bids for soyabeans were mostly steady to weak amid relatively active farmer selling around the US Midwest on Thursday, while corn bids continued to firm, dealers said. Farmers booked old-crop soyabean sales as futures rallied due to thin soya stocks.
Some farmers who had been holding tightly to old-crop supplies sold on ideas that prices may have peaked, a dealer at an Iowa processor said. Cash prices for beans ranged from about $12.60 to $12.75 per bushel on Thursday. Corn futures were also higher, following soyabeans and higher crude oil, with farmers booking sales of old- and new-crop corn, although at lesser levels than soyabeans, dealers said.
Bids for corn climbed 1 to 2 cents per bushel higher at rail terminals amid strong demand from ethanol plants. Scattered rainfall across much of the US Midwest slowed farmer fieldwork. Farmers worked in the fields wherever possible, with some calling dealers from the fields to book sales. Barge bids were steady to firm on Midwest Rivers.
On the Illinois River, barges traded at 280 percent of tariff, up 5 percentage points from Wednesday, while bids were unchanged on the Mississippi River at St. Louis and on the lower Ohio River, at 215 and 200 percent of tariff, respectively. At the Chicago Board of Trade, soyabeans hit a nine-month high on tight stocks, a weak dollar and higher crude oil. Corn futures followed soya, while wheat ended lower on profit-taking and pressure from upcoming US wheat harvest.
CBOT July soyabeans closed 21 cents, or 1.69 percent, higher at $12.67 per bushel, while August soyabeans ended 10-1/4 cents higher at $11.85-1/2. CBOT July corn closed 5-1/4 cents higher at $4.41 per bushel, a 1.2 percent jump. CBOT July wheat settled 1-1/4 cents lower at $5.94-3/4 per bushel.