(Reuters) – Chicago corn hovered near its highest in three months on Tuesday, while soybeans rose for a fourth straight session, underpinned by strong demand and as a winter storm slowed grain movement across the U.S. Midwest.
Wheat was almost flat after climbing to its highest since Jan. 29 as bitter cold threatened to damage dormant crops in parts of the U.S. grain belt.
Chicago Board of Trade March soybeans had risen 0.3 percent to $12.96-1/2 a bushel by 0318 GMT, while front-month corn was steady at $4.35-3/4 a bushel, after climbing to its strongest since late October on Monday.
March wheat was flat at $5.63-3/4 a bushel, having hit its highest since Jan. 29 earlier in the session.
“There is a risk of winter kill for the U.S. wheat crop because of extreme cold weather,” said Vanessa Tan, investment analyst at Phillip Futures in Singapore.
“We are seeing very strong demand for soymeal in the United States and the winter storm is slowing the movement of cargoes.”
Dry conditions prevailed across the top wheat state of Kansas in January with little snowfall during the month to bring much-needed moisture, the USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service said in a report on Monday.
It said the state saw less than half normal precipitation.
Forecasts for the U.S. Plains and Midwest see frigid temperatures this week and a mid-week storm that should bring more snowfall on the heels of snows that fell this past weekend.
The snow should protect dormant winter wheat crops from injury as temperatures drop below zero degrees Fahrenheit (minus 18 Celsius) on Thursday and Friday mornings, said Drew Lerner of World Weather Inc. But the cold and snow will further complicate the movement of grain and livestock, especially barge traffic on frozen Midwestern rivers.
Export demand for U.S. soymeal has been strong due to reduced output from Argentina, the world’s top supplier of the feed ingredient, where producers are holding on to dollar-denominated soybeans as a hedge against rampant inflation.
U.S. soybeans also drew support from worries about expanding dryness in Brazil, projected as the world’s biggest soy supplier. The harvest of a likely record-large Brazilian soybean crop is under way but crops are still developing in some areas.
