Chicago soybeans, wheat rally on oil prices rebounding; corn lowers

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural commodities closed mixed on Thursday with soybeans and wheat rallying as oil prices and global stocks rebounded strongly, somehow easing worries on the world growth, while corn lowers due to U.S. highest ethanol inventories in nearly four years.

The most active soybean contract for March delivery rose 4.5 cents, or 0.51 percent, to close at 8.785 dollars per bushel. Wheat for March delivery added 3.5 cents, or 0.74 percent, to close at 4.75 dollars per bushel. Meanwhile, March corn delivery lost 1.75 cents, or 0.47 percent, to close at 3.67 U.S. dollars per bushel.

Analysts noted that the CBOT commodity markets were following the upturns in oil prices and U.S. stock markets with the EU Central Bank promising more monetary stimulus in March.

Chicago soybeans also got more support from the talks about lower-than-expected soybean yields in Brazil, a major U.S. rival for soybean production and export. Farmers are reporting disappointing soybean yields in Brazil's state of Mato Grosso, which accounts for 30 percent of that country's crop, analysts said.

U.S. wheat advanced on Thursday after Egypt, the world's largest wheat importer, announced Wednesday an international tender to purchase wheat supplies for late February shipment.

Corn prices were put more pressure by a sharp rise in U.S. ethanol stocks. The U.S. Energy Information Administration said Thursday Weekly U.S. ethanol inventories for the week ending Jan. 15, rose by 2.8 percent from the previous week, to a nearly four-year high of 21,940,000 barrels.

"Such stocks will limit future profitability of U.S. ethanol production," said AgResource company, a Chicago-based agricultural research institute. Endit