Chicago Board of Trade corn futures rose on Thursday for a fourth straight session as dismal weather forecasts signalled further planting delays in the Midwest, prompting commodity funds to cover short positions, analysts said.
CBOT July corn settled up 9-1/2 cents at $3.79 a bushel after hitting $3.80-3/4, the contract's highest since March 29. New-crop December corn ended up 7-3/4 cents at $3.96-1/2 after matching Tuesday's high of $3.97-3/4. A series of at least three storm systems is expected to move across the central United States over the next 10 days, severely limiting corn and soy planting progress, space technology firm Maxar said in a weather note. The US Department of Agriculture reported export sales of US corn in the week to May 9 at 634,100 tonnes (old and new crop years combined), in line with trade expectations for 300,000 to 900,000 tonnes.
Taiwan's feed industry procurement association MFIG purchased about 65,000 tonnes of corn to be sourced optionally from the United States or Brazil in an international tender, European traders said.