Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn futures leaped over 2 percent on Monday, posting the biggest one-day advance in nearly a month on soaring cash corn markets and tight stocks of corn. "July (old-crop) is definitely benefiting from the firm cash basis and tight near-term supplies. The western Corn Belt basis is very strong," said Sterling Smith, market specialist for Citigroup.
New-crop December corn gained as well, but its advance was limited by nearly ideal crop growing weather in the US Midwest that could nurse the late-planted crop to record production levels. "New-crop contracts are finding pressure from the absolutely beautiful crop weather," Smith said.
Soyabean futures eased as a turn to nearly ideal crop growing weather suggested 2013 crop production will rebound after last season's drought-reduced harvest. "A lot of this is the weather. It's turning warm and dry now which is just what the crop needs," said Anne Frick, oilseeds analyst for Jefferies Bache. Wheat turned up on bargain buying after slipping earlier to a 2-1/2 month low on seasonal harvest pressure as US farmers gained traction cutting the 2013 US winter wheat crop.
CBOT corn for July delivery was up 13-1/2 cents per bushel at $6.68-1/2, while new-crop December was up 5-1/2 at $5.38-1/2. CBOT July soyabeans were down 4 cents per bushel at $15.12-1/2 and July wheat was down 1/4 cent at $6.80-1/2. Cash basis bids for barge loads of corn shipped to the US Gulf Coast surged to their highest-ever springtime level on Friday as exporters scrambled for near-term supplies that remained extremely tight.
"There are a bunch of paper shorts in the market and exporters still have a program to fill. Nobody's selling anything right now and the pipeline is just so thin," said an corn export trader. Gains were slowed in the corn market and pressure was applied to new-crop December corn and new-crop November soyabean futures contracts by crop growing conditions that have turned nearly ideal in the US Midwest after record rains early this spring led to the slowest planting pace in 17 years. The US Department of Agriculture raised its estimate of the 2013 US winter wheat harvest last week to 1.509 billion bushels, from 1.486 billion in May.