Chicago | Reuters—Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rebounded on Thursday after hitting a five-year low the previous day, and corn recovered from earlier contract lows as technical support and signs of new export demand countered the pressure of ample supplies, traders said.
Soybeans also edged up from a four-month trough as low prices stirred demand for the oilseed.
Abundant supply expected from Northern Hemisphere wheat harvests and autumn corn and soybean harvests in the United States dragged down prices the previous day.
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The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade Wv1 rose 9-3/4 cents to settle at $5.18-1/4 a bushel. The benchmark had fallen to its lowest since August 2020 on Wednesday at $5.04 but held above the $5 floor.
“We’re getting a corrective bounce with a boost from strong export numbers, which are a function of cheaper prices,” Terry Linn, a broker at Linn & Associates, said.
CBOT December corn CZ25 rose 5-3/4 cents to close at $4.07 per bushel, after most corn contracts hit lifetime lows the previous day.
Weekly U.S. export sales, reported by the U.S. Department of Agriculture on Thursday, showed wheat, corn, and soybean volumes above market estimates.
That bolstered expectations that the recent price drop, coupled with weakness in the dollar, has made U.S. crops attractive for export.
The U.S. is expected to produce bumper corn and soy harvests later in the year. Analysts polled by Reuters think the U.S. Department of Agriculture will raise its estimates in a monthly report due on Tuesday.
CBOT soybeans Sv1 settled 9-1/4 cents higher to $9.93-3/4 per bushel to recover from their lowest level since April struck a day earlier.
Fund short-covering and an uptick in demand helped fuel price recovery, traders and analysts said.
“U.S. soybeans are the cheapest in the world clear out through the fall, and non-Chinese buyers are scooping them up,” Linn said.
—Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Peter Hobson in Canberra.
