(Reuters) – July 15 Chicago soybeans edged up on Friday as the market took a breather, after sliding almost 4 percent in the previous session on pressure from forecasts of crop-boosting rains in the U.S. Midwest.
Corn gained 0.7 percent, while wheat added more than 1 percent.
The Chicago Board of Trade most-active soybean contract was up 0.6 percent at $10.69 a bushel by 0275 GMT, while corn rose 0.7 percent to $3.67-1/4 a bushel.
Wheat was up 1 percent at $4.38-1/2 a bushel.
“The soybeans market has come under pressure and that can change again,” said Ole Houe, an analyst with brokerage IKON Commodities in Sydney.
“The market will be volatile, we see a 110 cents trading range in soybeans and 50 cents in corn. It will go on for a month or so.”
For the week, soybeans have gained 1.3 percent, partly recouping the 7 percent loss a week earlier. Corn has risen 1.4 percent in what could be its first weekly gain in a month, while wheat has added 0.9 percent, heading for its second straight weekly gain.
The latest weather outlook has reduced the likely duration of scorching temperatures across the U.S. Corn Belt next week. More rains have been forecast, which will help protect the crop from the searing heat.
A better-than-expected export report from the U.S. Agriculture Department on Thursday morning limited the sell-off in corn.
The USDA said old-crop export sales of corn came in at 667,800 tonnes last week and new-crop export sales were 687,800 tonnes. Both figures topped the high ends of a range of market forecasts.
Commodity funds were net sellers of CBOT soybean, corn and wheat futures contracts on Thursday.
Traders’ estimates of net fund selling in soybeans ranged from 14,000 to 20,000 contracts. Funds were seen selling 8,000 to 11,000 corn contracts and 3,000 to 4,000 wheat contracts.
