Reuters — U.S. soybeans rose on Monday for a third straight session, boosted by strength in vegetable oil markets and technical buying.
Corn turned higher on chart-based buying and Chicago wheat finished mixed, held in check by an ongoing disruption in Egyptian wheat imports.
Chicago November soybean futures climbed 6-1/2 cents, or 0.8 per cent, to $9.72-1/2 a bushel after hitting a one-week high of $9.81-1/4 (all figures US$).
Soybeans and corn sagged last week following monthly U.S. government crop forecasts that confirmed the prospect of a huge harvest, before recovering at the end of the week as rains delayed the Midwest harvest.
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On Monday, forecasts of a turn to drier harvest conditions led to some selling, before late technical buying buoyed soybeans and corn.
“Fund managers figure there’s nothing new here, we’ve seen the most bearish production estimates, so they’re ready to move on,” said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at INTL FCStone.
Spillover strength from Malaysian palm oil, a rival oilseed that rose on Monday on expectations of tight stocks, also supported soybeans, said Roy Huckabay, executive vice-president of The Linn Group brokerage.
Chicago Board of Trade most active December corn added 1/4 cent to $3.37-1/4 a bushel after reaching a near one-week high of $3.40 early in the session.
Technical buying supported corn, after it did not retest last week’s lows, Suderman said.
Weekly crop progress data released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture after the market close showed a lag in harvesting.
Nine per cent of U.S. corn was harvested as of Sunday, down from the five-year average of 12 per cent for this time of year and 11 per cent expected by the trade. Four per cent of U.S. soybeans were harvested, down slightly from five per cent on average, matching expectations.
Chicago December wheat edged up 3/4 cent to $4.04 a bushel, but back months eased.
Egypt failed to attract a single offer at its state grain tender on Monday, forcing it to cancel its third consecutive wheat purchase tender during an ongoing standoff with suppliers over import policies.
–– Rod Nickel is a Reuters correspondent covering the agriculture and mining sectors from Winnipeg. Additional reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
