SINGAPORE- Chicago corn and soybean prices rose for a fifth session on Tuesday on forecasts for hot, dry conditions across the Midwest farm belt and positioning ahead of monthly supply-and-demand reports from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).
Wheat prices rose after closing sharply lower on Monday.
“The Non-Commercial net long position across the US traded agricultural markets collapsed…,” J.P.Morgan analysts said in a note.
“With continued outflows from the sector, agricultural markets remain at oversold levels based on historically tight grains & oilseed inventories and limited recession-led agri-demand implications.”
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.4 percent at $6.31-1/4 a bushel, and soybeans added 0.7 percent to $14.15 a bushel.
Wheat gained 0.6 percent to 8.61-3/4 a bushel.
The corn crop is entering its critical pollination stage of development, so the market is particularly sensitive to forecasts indicating stressful heat and dryness. Soybeans face a greater risk from such weather in August.
In its weekly crop progress and conditions report, the USDA said that 64 percent of the US corn crop was rated good-to-excellent, unchanged from a week ago. That was 1 percentage point lower than what analysts were expecting.
Good-to-excellent ratings for soybeans were pegged at 62 percent, the USDA said. That was down 1 percentage point from a week ago and 2 percentage points below market expectations.
Grain markets had rebounded last week in a technical bounce from multi-month lows and speculation that lower prices could spark import purchases by China or other global buyers.
The market is looking ahead to Tuesday’s monthly USDA crop reports, which are expected to show a slight increase is the agency’s corn crop outlook, along with a small drop in soybean production.
