US wheat and corn futures climbed to one-week highs on Tuesday and soyabeans also firmed on bargain-buying and short-covering after last week's declines, analysts said. As of 12:05 pm CST (1805 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade March wheat futures were up 16 cents, about 4 percent, at $4.09-1/2 per bushel, after reaching $4.11, the contract's highest since December 19. March corn was up 7 cents at $3.52-3/4 a bushel and most-active March soyabeans were up 18-1/4 cents at $10.15-3/4 a bushel.
"Sharp advances are being posted in the markets today as month-, quarter- and year-end short covering develops. Much of this is a simple correction from the losses that were posted last week," Karl Setzer, analyst with the MaxYield Co-operative in West Bend, Iowa, said in a note to clients. Large speculators expanded their large net short positions in CBOT wheat and corn futures in the week to December 20, US Commodity Futures Trading Commission data showed, leaving those markets vulnerable to bouts of short-covering.
Strong weekly export inspections data lent support. The US Department of Agriculture said 1.7 million tonnes of US soyabeans were inspected for export in the latest week, toward the high end of trade expectations. Traders continue to monitor crop conditions in South America. Heavy rains that pelted parts of Argentina over the weekend did not reach the south-eastern part of the bread-basket province of Buenos Aires, where dryness is threatening to dent soyabean production, local farm weather experts said on Monday.