SINGAPORE: Chicago corn futures rose on Tuesday, climbing to their highest in almost one week, as the market was underpinned by dry weather reducing supplies from key exporter Argentina. Soybeans gained ground and wheat ticked lower.

“Argentina’s corn crop is a key concern,” a Singapore-based trader said. “Drought has reduced supplies and availability for exports.” The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) rose 0.3% to $6.79-1/2 a bushel, as of 0356 GMT.

Soybeans added 0.8% to 15.39 a bushel while wheat lost 0.2% to $7.75 a bushel.

Argentina’s corn exports should fall some 40% year-on-year between March and June, the Rosario Grains exchange (BCR) said on Friday, as fewer hectares were planted early this season due to the impacts of a historic drought.

An escalation in fighting in Ukraine and renewed Russian criticism of a wartime shipping corridor from Ukraine underpinned the wheat market. Ukraine grain exports are down 28.7% at 30.3 million tonnes in the 2022/23 season so far, hit by a smaller harvest and logistical difficulties caused by the Russian invasion, agriculture ministry data showed on Monday.

Turkish and Russian leaders may soon discuss a UN-backed initiative that has enabled the export of grain from Ukrainian ports, but there is no date set yet, a source familiar with the negotiations on the deal told RIA Novosti on Monday.

South Korea’s FLC bought 65,000 tonnes corn on Friday

Brazilian farmers have harvested 25% of the soybean area planted for 2022/23 through last Thursday, agribusiness consultancy AgRural said on Monday, as work in the fields advances quickly in top grain producing state Mato Grosso.

Traders await the US Department of Agriculture’s annual Outlook Forum this week in which the government is expected to release preliminary forecasts for 2023 plantings and production of major US crops.