US corn, soyabean and wheat futures rose on Thursday, supported by a round of bargain-buying after all three commodities fell sharply on Wednesday, traders said. Tight stocks and strength in the cash market also supported soyabean prices. US farmers have not sold much to processors and elevators in recent weeks because they were reluctant to part with the small amounts of the oilseed they had left in storage bins. Gains in the soyaoil market spilled over to soyabeans.
Corn remained underpinned by signs of strong demand and the prospect that US farmers will plant less corn and get a late start on field work. Traders said the downturn on Wednesday slowed farmer sales of corn. "Producer selling has picked up on the recent rally, but interest wanes considerably under $5.00," Art Liming, futures specialist with Citigroup, said in a note to clients.
CBOT May corn closed up 4-1/4 cents higher at $5.00 a bushel. "There is a little bit of fear that with these colder temperatures you could end up with planting delays," said Jason Britt, president of Central States Commodities. Weekly US export sales confirmed brisk demand for US corn, with 960,600 tonnes sold for the current marketing year, within a range of trade estimates and down from 1.4 million the prior week.
CBOT May soyabeans were up 13 cents at $14.75-1/4 a bushel. Export demand for US soyabeans was weak, limiting the gains on Thursday. Most overseas buyers had turned their attention to Brazil and Argentina due to cheaper prices from those countries. The US Department of Agriculture said weekly soyabean export sales of old-crop US supplies were 66,200 tonnes, near the low end of forecasts for zero to 200,000 tonnes.
Private analytics firm Informa Economics trimmed its estimate of the 2013/14 Brazilian soyabean crop to 86.75 million tonnes from its previous forecast of 88.6 million, trade sources said. It raised its outlook for the Argentine soya harvest by 500,000 tonnes to 54.5 million. CBOT May soft red winter wheat was 6-3/4 cents higher at $6.76 a bushel. Technical buyers stepped in when the contract dipped near its 30-day moving average, The prospect of rain in the drought-hit US Plains as well as easing concerns about disruption to trade in Ukraine, a major wheat producer, and Russia contributed to selling earlier this week.