Chicago soybean futures gained more ground on Thursday, as concerns over the declining condition of the U.S. crop amid strong demand underpinned prices.
Corn rose for the first time in four sessions, while wheat ticked higher.
“The sentiment is pretty bullish for both corn and soybeans,” said a Singapore-based trader at an international trading company. “The demand is strong and we have crop concerns in the United States.”
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.3% at $13.31-3/4 a bushel, as of 0304 GMT.
Corn climbed 0.8% to $5.35 a bushel and wheat added 0.2% to $6.23-1/4 a bushel.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture, in a weekly report, surprised the market by lowering its good-to-excellent rating for the nation’s soybean crop to 59% from 60%.
Protests by workers in Argentina’s key grains hub Rosario have snarled exports with roads blocked at some of the area’s key ports, an industry official told Reuters on Wednesday.
The protest of construction workers began late on Tuesday and on Wednesday spread to the entire districts of Puerto General San Martín and Timbúes, north of Rosario, affecting shipments of one of the world’s largest food exporters.
In China, farmers have sharply increased corn planting in a trend that is likely to cool the country’s recent rampant appetite for imports.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybean, soymeal and soyoil futures contracts on Wednesday, and net sellers of corn and wheat contracts, traders said.
Source: Reuters (Reporting by Naveen Thukral; Editing by Subhranshu Sahu and Sherry Jacob-Phillips)