SINGAPORE, Apr 19: US soybean futures rose for a fourth consecutive session on Friday with the market on track for its biggest two-week gain since early September, driven by strong demand and tight old-crop supplies.
Corn firmed, recouping some of last session’s deep losses, as planting delays in top two producers the United States and China underpinned the market, while wheat edged higher.
Soybeans are being supported by expectations that shipping delays in Brazil could steer more demand to the United States, where supplies are projected to shrink to a nine-year low ahead of the autumn harvest.
The demand from China, the world’s top buyer remains strong.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said exporters struck deals to sell 252,000 tonnes of U.S. Soybeans to China for delivery in the next marketing year, which begins Sept. 1.
Weekly U.S. Soybean export sales were 566,800 tonnes for the week ended April 11, within traders’ expectations.
‘Old-crop supplies in the U.S. Are very tight and the situation doesn’t seem to be easing because of shipping delays in Brazil,’ said Joyce Liu, investment analyst at Phillip Futures. ‘Overall the demand is strong.’
Poor weather and logistical problems have delayed soybean shipments from Brazil, which is in the middle of exporting an expected record harvest.
Chicago Board of Trade May soybeans gained 0.6 percent to $14.39-1/2 a bushel by 0224 GMT after climbing to a three-week high of $14.41-1/2 a bushel in the last session.
The prices were headed for a weekly gain of about 2 percent, stretching its gains over two weeks to almost 6 percent.
May corn rose 0.5 percent to $6.47-1/2 a bushel, while May wheat added quarter of a cent to $7.07 a bushel.
In the corn market, prices are being buoyed by planting delays in the United States and China.
Heavy rainfall of up to 2.0 to 4.0 inches (5 to 10 cm) covered most of the U.S. Midwest at midweek, and additional rain is likely into early next week, an agricultural meteorologist said.
And wet weather delayed plantings by up to 10 days in China’s northeast corn belt, which accounts for nearly half of the country’s output, while dryness threatened emergence in parts of northwest, the ministry of agriculture said.
For the week, corn has lost 1.6 percent as the market gave up some of last week’s strong gains in sympathy with a broad-based sell off in commodity markets on concerns over global growth. Wheat has fallen 1.4 percent this week, losing ground after two consecutive weeks of gains.
The wheat market could rise next week as adverse weather is damaging the U.S. Winter crop.
Another round of freezing temperatures in the U.S. Plains at midweek probably harmed more of the winter wheat crop, while heavy rainfall in the Midwest again helped ease drought stress but also stalled corn plantings.
Weekly U.S. Wheat export sales of 1.7 million tonnes were the largest since the week ended Sept. 6, 2007, due to large sales of soft red winter wheat to China, according to USDA.
Commodity funds sold a net 13,000 CBOT corn contracts on Thursday, trade sources said. They bought 7,000 soybean contracts and were even in wheat.
(agencies)
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