Chicago | Reuters—U.S. corn futures hit a six-month high on Friday on stronger-than-expected weekly export sales data and supportive chart signals, analysts said.
Wheat rose on brisk export sales and bargain buying after recent lows, while soybean futures sputtered as traders anticipated large South American soy harvests.
Chicago Board of Trade March corn futures CH25settled 1/4 cent higher at $4.54 per bushel after reaching $4.55, the highest on a continuous chart of the most-active contract <Cv1> since mid-June. The March contract stayed above its 200-day moving average after crossing above that line on Thursday for the first time since May, a bullish technical signal.
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U.S. wheat futures closed higher on Thursday on concerns over the limited availability of supplies for export in Russia, analysts said.
CBOT wheat Wv1 ended up 5-1/2 cents at $5.46-1/2 a bushel while soybeans Sv1 settled down 7-1/2 cents at $9.89-3/4 a bushel.
Corn drew support from robust export demand. The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported export sales of U.S. corn in the week to Dec. 19 at 1.7 million metric tons, topping a range of trade expectations for 1.0 million to 1.6 million tons.
“We’re seeing a host of buyers building ownership,” StoneX commodities economist Arlan Suderman wrote in a client note.
CBOT corn futures had slid to four-year lows below $4 a bushel as recently as August. End users of the grain have since been taking advantage of the dip, booking purchases in case South American corn harvests falter, Suderman said.
CBOT wheat extended its rebound from life-of-contract lows set last week. The USDA reported weekly U.S. wheat export sales at 612,400 metric tons, above a range of trade expectations for 250,000 to 600,000 tons.
Algeria’s state grains agency OAIC is believed to have purchased an estimated 1.17 million metric tons of milling wheat in an international tender that closed on Tuesday, European traders said this week.
Soybean futures retreated after a two-session climb, pressured by optimism about soybean production prospects in Brazil, the world’s top supplier, and lower-than-expected weekly U.S. soybean export sales.
Meanwhile, Argentina’s Buenos Aires Grains Exchange raised its corn planting area estimate while trimming its estimate of soybean area for the 2024/25 season.
Bunge Global said it was restarting a soybean processing plant in Cairo, Illinois, after a fire in a conveyor belt temporarily shuttered it on Thursday.
—Additional reporting by Mei Mei Chu in Bejing and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris.
