US corn futures rose 2 percent early on Thursday, their biggest gain in a week, as hot, dry conditions continued to threaten production prospects with the Midwest corn crop entering its key pollination stage. Corn rose for the second day in a row and traders said the market was on edge because updated weather maps showed a turn away from wetter weather in the US Midwest and back to a drier scenario.
"Anyone who had gotten short earlier in the week because of weather should be nervous with these updated forecasts for hotter and drier conditions," said Mike Zuzolo, analyst for Global Commodity Analytics. Soyabeans were firm on the gains in corn and a big soya number in the US Department of Agriculture's weekly export sales report released on Thursday.
USDA on Thursday said US exporters sold China 110,000 tonnes of SRW wheat for delivery this marketing year. It was the largest sale of SRW wheat to China in 8-1/2 years. The last time China bought that much wheat was on January 15, 2004, when they bought 300,000 tonnes of old-crop and 670,000 tonnes of new-crop, according to USDA data. At 9:22 am CDT (1422 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade corn for July delivery was up 15-1/4 cents per bushel at $6.07-3/4, July delivery soyabeans were up 2 cents at $14.10-1/4 and wheat for July was up 10 cents at $6.26.