NAPERVILLE, Illinois – After building immensely bullish bets, speculators in late February rode out Chicago corn’s worst downturn in over a year as the United States prepared to upend global trade.
Most of those long positions were dumped during March as economic uncertainties intensified, and corn futures sank to three-month lows by the end of March.
But those who stayed the course were rewarded last week. CBOT corn surged 6.5 percent between Monday and Friday, the most-active contract’s best five-day stretch since late 2023.
Short covering was rampant in CBOT soybean oil for a second straight week amid volatility in global vegoil prices. Money managers established a net long of 30,125 soyoil futures and options contracts as of April 8 versus a net short of 5,762 a week earlier.
Money managers slightly trimmed what had been a record net short in CBOT soybean meal futures and options, resulting in a net short of 97,630 contracts. CBOT soymeal added 3 percent over the last three sessions, on Friday topping $300 per short ton for the first time in three weeks.
CBOT wheat futures also reached three-week highs on Friday with a settlement price of $5.55-3/4 per bushel. That is nearly identical to the same date a year ago, when funds held a net short of about 87,000 contracts.
