Wheat, Soybeans Advance as Europe Debt-Crisis Accord Eases Demand Concern
(Bloomberg) – Wheat, soybeans and corn rose in Chicago, rebounding from two days of declines, on reduced concern demand may weaken after European leaders agreed on a plan to curb the region’s debt crisis.
A rescue fund’s firepower will be increased to 1 trillion euros ($1.4 trillion) and bondholders will accept 50 percent losses on Greek debt under the accord, reached at a second crisis summit in four days. The Standard & Poor’s GSCI Index of raw materials gained as much as 1.7 percent, advancing for a fourth session in five.
“With the news out of Europe as noted above that all is well, at least for the moment, grains are markedly higher,” said Dennis Gartman, the Suffolk, Virginia-based economist who edits the daily Gartman Letter.
Corn for December delivery climbed 1.6 percent to $6.4775 a bushel by 11:09 a.m. London time on the Chicago Board of Trade. The grain is up 9.3 percent this month on increased sales.
Soybeans for January delivery gained 1.9 percent to $12.4275 a bushel. That extended the oilseed’s rally this month to 5.4 percent.
Wheat for December delivery rose 2.2 percent to $6.33 a bushel. The grain has advanced 3.9 percent in October. Milling wheat for January delivery gained 0.4 percent to 184.50 euros ($258.41) a metric ton on NYSE Liffe in Paris.
Rough rice for delivery in January added 0.5 percent to $17.25 per 100 pounds in Chicago.
“We’ve seen a bit of demand coming into the markets at these levels across the board for grains, largely driven out of Asia and the Middle East,” Michael Pitts, commodity sales director at National Australia Bank Ltd., said by phone from Sydney today.
Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, yesterday bought 120,000 tons of the grain grown in Russia at $243.44 a ton. The price was “very competitive,” Pitts said.
To contact the reporters on this story: Tony C. Dreibus in London at tdreibus@bloomberg.net; Ranjeetha Pakiam in Kuala Lumpur at rpakiam@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net
