Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn, soybean and wheat futures rose on Tuesday, rebounding from earlier losses on technical buying and bargain hunting even as autumn harvests advanced more quickly than usual under dry weather conditions.
Corn jumped from a five-week low and soybeans gained for the first time in five sessions. Wheat bounced from a one-month low, despite ample global grain supplies and forecasts for needed rains this week in the southern U.S. Plains.
“It appears we have caught a few new shorts under the recent swing low,” ED+F Man Capital analyst Charlie Sernatinger said of the gains.
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Prices for each commodity eased overnight, then rallied, and then gave back much of those gains by midmorning, before rising sharply in the final minutes of the trading session. Investors were balancing huge global stockpiles with potentially adverse growing conditions in the U.S., Russia and Brazil.
Chicago Board of Trade December corn futures settled 3-3/4 cents higher at $3.76-3/4 per bushel, above its earlier five-week bottom of $3.72 (all figures US$).
“We had the push in the first half hour or so (of the session), where it looked like we were trying to put in a Turnaround Tuesday. But we still have a lot of pressure left in corn for the next two weeks,” Mark Gold, analyst at brokerage Top Third Ag Marketing, said of the harvest.
The term “Turnaround Tuesday” refers to a reversal from Monday’s moves. However, each grain commodity still was trading near the range established on the first day of the week.
In addition to rains in U.S. wheat areas, there also were forecasts for showers in Brazil, the No. 1 soybean producer that has been suffering from a month of dry weather.
Soybeans for November delivery were up five cents to $8.96 per bushel and wheat for December delivery up 5-1/2 cent at $4.91-1/4 per bushel.
The dollar pared earlier losses, helping take some of the froth off the grains rally. U.S. corn and wheat have lost global export market share to cheaper supplies shipped out of the Black Sea and South America.
“If the dollar could break, that could help our exports,” Gold said.
U.S. farmers had cut 59 per cent of their corn as of Oct. 18, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday, above the five-year average pace of 54 per cent. The soybean harvest was 77 per cent complete, higher than the five-year average of 68 per cent.
— Michael Hirtzer reports on ag commodity markets for Reuters from Chicago. Additional reporting for Reuters by Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Gus Trompiz in Paris.
