(Reuters) – July 11 Chicago corn futures climbed to a 10-day high on Monday, while soybeans gained for a second session with prices underpinned by forecasts of hot and dry weather for the key U.S. Midwest producing region.
Wheat was little changed after rallying on Friday on the back of gains in corn and beans.
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board Of Trade rose one percent to $3.66-1/4 a bushel by 0312 GMT, having hit a session high of $3.68 a bushel, strongest since July 1. Corn jumped 4 percent in the previous session.
Soybeans rose 1 percent to $10.68 a bushel and wheat was flat at $4.35 a bushel.
Corn and soybeans drew support on forecasts for hot and dry weather, stoking concerns about stress on both crops as they head toward key developmental phases.
“U.S. Midwest is facing weather problems, one-month forecast is showing hot and dry weather starting at the end of July,” said Kaname Gokon at brokerage Okato Shoji in Tokyo. “It could impact soybean crop yields.”
Strong demand for beans is providing additional support.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said early on Friday that weekly old-crop export sales of soybeans totaled a bigger-than-expected 637,300 tonnes. New-crop export sales of 585,700 tonnes were in line with market forecasts.
In bullish news for the corn market, India has asked a government-backed trader to import an extra half a million tonnes of duty-free, non-genetically modified corn to keep a lid on domestic prices and overcome any shortage, the trade ministry said on Sunday.
Rising domestic demand and stagnating production has seen India turning into a net importer from an exporter.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT corn, soybean and wheat futures contracts on Friday. Traders’ estimates of fund purchases in corn ranged from 5,000 to 11,000 contracts. They bought between 3,000 and 4,500 wheat contracts and 8,000 soybean contracts.
