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Chicago futures rally on technical buying, upbeat U.S. exports

Xinhua, December 11, 2015 Adjust font size:

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) corn, wheat and soybean futures rose across the board on Thursday as U.S. corn and soybean weekly export sales were better than expected, and traders covered a sizable short position in the corn and wheat markets.

The most active wheat contract for March delivery rose 5.75 cents, or 1.17 percent, to close at 4.955 U.S. dollars per bushel. Corn for March delivery added 5.5 cents, or 1.47 percent, to close at 3.7925 dollars per bushel. January soybeans delivery was up 1.5 cents, or 0.17 percent, to close at 8.7825 dollars per bushel.

Chicago wheat rose by more than 1 percent for a second straight session, as non-commercial traders' net short position was near record large, triggering a short-covering.

However, the rally was capped by a report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) showing U.S. wheat export sales last week was at the low end of trade estimates.

In its weekly export sales report for the week ending Dec. 3, the USDA said Thursday U.S. exports of wheat were down 46 percent from the previous week and 31 percent from the prior four-week average.

Corn exports were up 47 percent from the previous week and 41 percent from the prior four-week average, while soybean export sales fell by 19 percent from the previous week and 25 percent from the prior four-week average, the report said.

Analysts noted that corn and soybean demand was much better than expected, while wheat sales were at the low end of trade estimate.

For their respective marketing years to date, the U.S. corn sales were down 23 percent from last year; soybeans sales were 15 percent lower compared to a year ago; wheat sales fell by 15 percent from a year earlier, analysts predicted. Endit