By Michael Hirtzer
CHICAGO, July 13 (Reuters) – U.S. corn futures rose on
Monday, on pace for their fifth straight session of gains and
holding near the highest levels in a year, on
better-than-expected demand and as heavy rains limited yield
potential of the new crop.
Soybeans were also higher on punishing showers while wheat
futures fell as much as 2 percent on lackluster export demand.
Corn and soybeans reversed from earlier narrow losses to
turn higher in follow-through buying in the wake of the U.S.
Department of Agriculture’s supply and demand outlook on Friday,
in which the government showed smaller-than-expected stockpiles
of the crops.
Warmer temperatures in the United States were likely to
benefit developing corn and soybean plants but rains also moved
through northern and central portions of the Midwest crop belt,
leaving unneeded moisture after record precipitation in May and
June.
“(Corn) stocks are expected to be lower and wet weather is
hurting the crop,” said Kaname Gokon, general manager of
research at brokerage Okato Shoji in Tokyo.
Chicago Board of Trade September corn was up 2 cents
at $4.36-3/4 per bushel as of 11:02 a.m. CDT (1602 GMT), just
below its one-year high from Friday of $4.39-1/4.
CBOT August soybeans were 1/4 cents higher at $10.32-1/4.
CBOT September wheat was 4 cents lower to $5.72 per
bushel while MGEX September spring wheat fell 2 percent
to $5.94-1/4 per bushel.
USDA on Friday increased global wheat supplies by more than
12 million tonnes and projected U.S. ending stocks to the
highest levels in five years.
“Given what we saw out of the USDA report last week, wheat
should be under pressure,” said CHS Hedging analyst Joe Lardy.
Top global wheat importer Egypt last week purchased Russian
and Ukrainian supplies, with U.S. grain priced more than $50 per
tonne than the grain shipped out of the Black Sea region.
A higher dollar on Monday was seen as expanding the
competitive disadvantage for U.S. wheat in global markets.
“We’re not competitive – we’re more than a country mile
away,” Lardy said.
(Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen
Thukral in Sinagpore; Editing by Richard Pullin, Susan Fenton
and W Simon)