By Karl Plume
CHICAGO, Feb 4 (Reuters) – U.S. soybean futures were steady to mostly higher on Friday near an eight-month peak as some traders pocketed profits from strong gains this week, but the market remained underpinned by concerns about weather-reduced yields in South America.
Corn was also steady to firmer, while wheat futures rose in a short-covering and technical bounce following two days of declines.
Grain traders are beginning to square positions as they look ahead to next week’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) crop supply and demand reports, which are expected to show tighter grain and oilseed supplies and smaller crops in Brazil and Argentina.
The market is watching for any increase in crop export demand from China as traders in the top corn and soy importing nation return from the Lunar New Year holiday.
“The market is trying to measure how much of these massive (South American) crop losses are dialled in to the market already … We’ve had this massive runup in prices and it’s kind of stalled out,” said Don Roose, president of U.S. Commodities.
“But when we come out of the Lunar New Year holidays, we typically see pent-up buying coming out of Asia,” he added.
The USDA on Friday confirmed 295,000 tonnes in U.S. soybean export sales to undisclosed buyers, the latest in a string of sales announcements this week.
The Buenos Aires grains exchange cut its forecast for the 2021/22 Argentine soybean harvest by 2 million tonnes to 42 million tonnes on Thursday.
Heat waves and drought have hurt yield prospects in Argentina, Paraguay and Southern Brazil, while some parts of top soybean exporter Brazil are now facing excess rain.
Chicago Board of Trade March soybeans Sv1 were unchanged at $15.44-1/4 a bushel at 12:37 p.m. CST (1837 GMT), while March corn Cv1 was flat at $6.16-3/4 a bushel. CBOT March wheat Wv1 was up 11 cents at $7.62-3/4 a bushel.
U.S. soybean futures on track for biggest weekly gain since June 2021https://tmsnrt.rs/3GsQDBg
(Reporting by Karl Plume in Chicago Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Gavin Maguire in Singapore Editing by David Goodman and Matthew Lewis)
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