US corn futures firmed on Wednesday in a bargain-buying and short-covering bounce as the market's steep drop to six-week lows in the previous session triggered renewed demand for the feed grain. Wheat also rebounded after hitting two-week lows on Tuesday, while soyabeans were higher initially but turned lower as early buying interest evaporated.
Concerns over a prolonged trade war between Washington and Beijing rattled markets on Tuesday, triggering chart-based selling that accelerated losses and broke grains markets out of recent narrow trading ranges. Lower corn prices also unleashed a wave of demand among global buyers. South Korean importers bought about 260,000 tonnes of corn in snap tenders on Wednesday, with much of it likely to be shipped from the United States.
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) March corn was up 2-3/4 cents at $3.74 per bushel by 12:35 p.m. CST (1835 GMT) while CBOT March wheat gained a penny to $5.12 a bushel. March soyabeans were down 3/4 cent at $8.92-1/4 a bushel after trading higher earlier in the session.
Concerns about hot and dry weather in parts of Brazil and excessive rains in Argentina have propped up soyabeans this month, but much of the dire weather news has already been absorbed by the market, traders said. Brazilian agribusiness consultancy Céleres on Wednesday cut its soya harvest forecast for the country due to drought, but the 117.2-million-tonne estimate is largely in line with other analysts.
Thomson Reuters Agriculture Research on Wednesday lowered its forecast of Brazil's ongoing harvest by 2 percent to 118 million tonnes, joining other crop watchers in factoring in the impact of dryness on yields.