CHICAGO- US corn futures rose on Friday to their highest level since late January before paring gains and soybeans reached a one-month peak as floods disrupted harvests in top exporter Brazil and disease ate into Argentina’s corn crop, analysts said.
Wheat futures hit a one-week high on renewed concerns over dry weather in Russia, the world’s biggest wheat supplier.
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) July corn settled up 1/2 cent at $4.60-1/4 per bushel after climbing to $4.68, the contract’s highest level since Jan. 26. Corn sales by US farmers increased starting on Thursday as the contract broached $4.60, brokers said.
CBOT July soybeans settled up 16 cents on Friday at $12.15 a bushel and July wheat rose 18-1/4 cents to finish at $6.22-1/2 a bushel.
Corn and soybean prices were supported by flooding in Brazil’s Rio Grande do Sul, where the harvest is in its final stages. The state is Brazil’s second-largest producer of soybeans and sixth-largest producer of corn.
In Argentina, corn stunt disease spread by leaf-cutter insects and adverse weather prompted the Buenos Aires grains exchange to slash its estimate for Argentina’s 2023/24 corn harvest by 3 millions metric tons to 46.5 tons.
