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Chicago agricultural commodities settle higher

Xinhua, February 16, 2017 Adjust font size:

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) grains futures close higher Wednesday, recovering from weakness in the overnight trading session on a round of technical buying.

Corn futures staked out a fresh top, peaking at its highest since June 30 while wheat was trending near the 7-1/2 month high it hit earlier this week.

Soybeans were bouncing back from two days of declines that wiped out 1.3 percent of the most-active contract's value, attracting bargain hunters. A bullish report on monthly crushings added strength to the soy complex.

Buying by investment funds keyed the rebound from the overnight drop.

The most active corn contract for March delivery rose 4.5 cents, or 1.2 percent, to 3.7875 dollars per bushel. March wheat delivery rose 5.25 cents, or 1.17 percent, to 4.5475 dollars per bushel. March soybeans added 16.25 cents, or 1.56 percent, to 10.6125 dollars per bushel.

Traders have grown comfortable with the expectations for a bumper crop in South America and were waiting to see how weather for the U.S. planting season would progress during the next two months before locking in profits from the recent rally.

Jack Scoville, The PRICE Futures Group's Senior Market Analyst, says that there are forecasts for some big rains in the next few days and into the weekend in Argentina.

"Some areas could get another 6 to 8 inches, so flood fears are out there. The Brazil harvest is moving forward, but the producer is still not selling very much. The Real is now over 32.5 cents and at the beginning of December it was down near 28 cents," Scoville says.

U.S. soybean processors ramped up their pace of crushing above market forecasts last month, notching the third busiest January on record, according to the National Oilseed Processors Association's monthly report. NOPA said that its members crushed 160.621 million bushels during January, up from 160.176 million bushels in December. Endit