Chicago Board of Trade corn futures were up more than 2 percent on Thursday, rising on technical buying and easing fears of a trade war with China following a steep in prices on Wednesday, traders said. Front-month CBOT May corn finished at its session high of $3.89-1/2 per bushel and surpassed a peak from Wednesday notched before China announced plans to impose import duties on key US commodities including corn and soybeans.
Soyabean prices also rallied, with some investors soothed by statements from Washington that the United States and China could negotiate and avoid the tariffs on US agriculture products. Corn prices were further supported by wet and cold weather in the US Midwest that could delay the start of the spring planting season for farmers in states as Iowa and Illinois that grow a bulk of the corn crop. The US Department of Agriculture said USDA weekly corn export sales totalled 909,300 tonnes, below analysts' estimates that ranged from 1.100 million tonnes to 1.600 million tonnes.