(Reuters) – U.S. soybeans edged up on Thursday, recouping some of the previous session’s losses, on strong demand and as farmers held back their freshly harvested crops.
Wheat was largely unchanged, trading near a 2-1/2 month high on concerns over drought reducing yields in Australia and a cold spell stalling growth of the winter crop in the United States.
FUNDAMENTALS
* Soymeal has driven prices higher in the grains complex in recent days as heavy export commitments and a slow pace of U.S. farmer sales left processors scrambling for supplies.
* Soaring prices for U.S. soymeal and slow domestic movement of product has sparked talk of buyers turning overseas at a time when U.S. supplies were expected to dominate the market due to a
record harvest.
* Four shipments of Argentine soymeal are headed to the United States, according to a Buenos Aires-based grains industry source who asked not to be named.
* Commodity funds bought a net 11,000 CBOT corn contracts on Wednesday. The funds bought 8,000 contracts in wheat and sold 8,000 in soybeans.
* Delayed soybean planting in Brazil’s main farm state Mato Grosso will lead to a smaller second crop of corn, local growers association Aprosoja said.
* Farmers had to stop planting soy throughout much of October due to lack of rain. Soybean planting is now 67 percent complete in the state, down from 86 percent a year ago.
* Expanding U.S. ethanol exports may help support corn prices in the coming year in the face of a huge U.S. corn harvest, analyst David Hightower said on Wednesday.
* Wheat was buoyed by concerns of drought damage to the Australian harvest and U.S. cold spell that is likely to halt early winter wheat growth.
* Traders were also monitoring escalating tensions between Russia and Ukraine, both major grain exporters. Ukraine said it was redeploying troops in the eastern part of the country because of fears that separatists there will launch a new military offensive despite Moscow’s denials it has sent troops to reinforce the pro-Russia rebels.
MARKET NEWS
* Asian shares slipped slightly on Thursday as investors looked to a run of Chinese economic indicators due later in the day, while Wall Street shares ended a five-day winning streak as
falling oil prices hurt energy stocks.
