US wheat futures rallied on Friday, with the benchmark Chicago Board of Trade soft red winter wheat contract surging 3 percent on forecasts for dry conditions that could further stress an already damaged crop. The weather outlook also threatened to slow planting progress in the US Midwest, which was supportive of corn and soyabean futures.
"Heavy rainfall across portions of the northern US Plains and the western Midwest will further delay spring plantings, while unfavourable dry anomalies persist in the southern US Plains," Thomson Reuters Weather Research said in a note. Corn futures were up 1.6 percent following China's move to drop its anti-dumping probe into imports of US sorghum on Friday, beating a hasty retreat from a dispute that wreaked chaos across the global grain market and raised concerns about rising costs and financial damage at home.
The decision also boosted soyabean futures amid hopes it signalled that a move to settle all ongoing trade disputes between Beijing and Washington would follow soon. Chinese Vice Premier Liu He is in Washington for talks aimed at resolving trade tensions between the world's two largest economies. At 11:31 a.m. CDT (1631 GMT), CBOT July soft red winter wheat futures were up 15 cents at $5.12-1/2 a bushel. CBOT wheat has risen for four days in a row and was on track for a weekly gain of 3.1 percent.
CBOT July corn futures were 6-3/4 cents higher at $4.02. CBOT July soyabean futures were up 1/4 cent at $9.95-1/4 a bushel. Strength in soyabeans was tempered by a US Agriculture Department announcement that unknown buyers cancelled sales to buy 949,000 tonnes of soyabeans. Soyabean futures have fallen 0.8 percent this week and were on track for their third straight weekly loss. Corn futures were up 1.4 percent this week.