(Reuters) – U.S. corn rose more than half a percent on Thursday as bargain-buying by end users buoyed the market, after prices slid more than 5 percent over the past two sessions on pressure from growing ethanol supplies.
Soybeans rose for a second session on expectations of strong demand, while wheat gained after dropping for six sessions.
Soybeans climbed 0.7 percent to $10.16 a bushel, having firmed 0.5 percent on Wednesday. Wheat added 0.6 percent to $5.41 a bushel.
“Softening that we have seen in oil prices will impact demand for ethanol,” said Graydon Chong, senior grains analyst at Rabobank.
U.S. Energy Information Administration said ethanol stockpiles jumped more than 1 million barrels in the week ending Jan. 9 to the largest supplies in about two years – an indication that demand for corn in production of the grain-based biofuel could slow in the coming days.
Taiwan and South Korea have recently purchased U.S. corn.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture will issue export data on corn, wheat and soybeans later in the day.
Private exporters reported sales of 202,750 tonnes of soybeans to unknown destinations, including 102,750 tonnes for delivery in the 2014/2015 marketing year that began Sept. 1, and 100,000 tonnes for delivery in 2015/2016, the USDA said.
Grains remain under pressure following forecasts by the U.S. Department of Agriculture earlier in the week for record-large global soy supplies and the largest domestic corn supply in history.
U.S. commercial handlers were holding the largest ever soybean supplies as of Dec. 1 following last year’s record harvest, while South American farmers were likely to gather their biggest soy crop in history, the USDA data showed.
Some investors have been moving capital from grains and oilseeds back into energies such as crude oil on ideas that the slump in oil to a six-year low was nearing a bottom.
