Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures jumped 2.1 per cent on Wednesday to their highest in nearly seven weeks, supported by fresh export deals and strength in the domestic cash market.
Wheat and corn futures were also strong, with wheat recovering from a pullback on Tuesday to top the nine-year high it hit Monday.
Inflation concerns fortified the grain market as commercial buyers scrambled buy supplies to guard against further price rallies.
“It is more of an entrenched thing that prices are going to be higher in the future than they are today,” said Greg Grow, director of agribusiness at Archer Financial Services.
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Chicago Board of Trade corn futures set contract lows and soybean futures sagged on Friday on expectations that beneficial weather for U.S. crops will lead to bumper harvests, analysts said.
Chicago Board of Trade January soybean futures ended up 25-3/4 cents at $12.77 a bushel (all figures US$). On a continuous basis, the most-active contract hit its highest since Sept. 30.
Private exporters reported the sale of 132,000 tonnes of soybeans to China, the fourth trading day in a row the government has announced a soybean deal.
Strength in soymeal, stemming from expectations that hog producers will boost their usage as a shortage of lysine made corn-based feed less desirable, added support, Grow said.
Soymeal futures gained two per cent and hit a five-month high.
CBOT December wheat was 12 cents higher at $8.22-1/4 a bushel, with the market underpinned by concerns about tight global supplies and strong demand.
Algeria will take a substantial amount of Russian wheat in an import purchase of between 700,000 and 800,000 tonnes. Additionally, Egypt and the Philippines booked deals to buy wheat while Turkey issued a tender for supplies.
“Major global wheat importers have been extremely active in the past week, with much more fear over global supply there than in corn and soybeans at this point,” StoneX chief commodities economist Arlan Suderman wrote in a client note.
CBOT December corn was up 4-1/4 cents at $5.75-1/4 a bushel.
— Mark Weinraub is a Reuters commodities correspondent in Chicago; additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore.
