Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade corn futures rose for a second consecutive session on Tuesday, extending a slight recovery from their lowest levels in more than three years.
Soybean futures finished lower after shrugging off earlier gains.
Bargain buyers stepped in to the corn market as low prices increased some demand from end users, traders said. The front-month contract Cc1 on Monday bounced after falling below $4 per bushel to its lowest level since November 2020.
Technical buying and short covering helped extend the rebound, traders said, with speculators holding large short positions or bets that prices will fall.
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Declines in projected planting intentions for 2026/27 were not as big as the market expected, after the United States Department of Agriculture released its estimates on March 31. The USDA also issued its quarterly grain stocks report with stocks for soybeans bigger than anticipated, while those for corn were smaller and wheat virtually matched the average trade guess.
“It’s a little bit of evening up,” said Don Roose, president of brokerage U.S. Commodities.
Ample global corn supplies limited advances, though, as the U.S. faces intensified competition for grain and soy export sales on the global market, analysts said.
Nearby CBOT March corn CH24 ended up 1-1/4 cents at $4.08-1/4 a bushel. Most-active May corn Cv1 closed 2 cents higher at $4.23-1/2 per bushel and reached its highest price since Nov. 14 at $4.26-1/2.
CBOT wheat also advanced, with the May contract WK24 closing 9-1/2 cents higher at $5.84-1/4 per bushel. Most-active May soybeans Sv1 fell 4-1/2 cents to $11.40-3/4 after dropping on Monday to the lowest price since November 2020 at $11.33-1/2.
Brokers said some market participants liquidated March contracts ahead of first notice day on Thursday and were also watching for signs that prices are bottoming out.
“If you can get a 3-4 day rally out of it, then it’s more convincing that’s the low,” Roose said.
In global demand, exporters sold 123,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to unknown destinations, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said. Still, the United States faces stiff competition from Brazil for export sales to China, the world’s biggest soy importer.
Chinese importers are believed to have purchased a substantial volume of animal feed corn from Ukraine in the past week, European traders said.
“U.S. origins lack competitiveness on the international stage, which naturally limits the potential for a rebound,” consultancy Agritel said.
–Additional reporting for Reuters by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
