By Christopher Walljasper
CHICAGO, Jan 7 (Reuters) – Chicago soybean futures rallied after mixed trade early on Friday, with traders weighing spotty export activity against uncertain weather issues in South America.
Corn eased as crops in Argentina and Brazil have more time to benefit from rainfall expected later this month.
Wheat found a new 2-1/2 month low, pressured by large southern hemisphere harvests and precipitation forecast for parched parts of the U.S. Plains.
Grain markets also looked to a series of U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) crop reports scheduled for Jan. 12, including updated estimates of South American production. USDA/EST
“We’re going to continue to see this erratic movement until we get past USDA’s reports,” said Arlan Suderman, chief commodities economist at StoneX.
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1 was up 20 cents at $14.07-1/4 a bushel by 11:22 a.m. (1722 GMT), after earlier hitting $14.13-1/4, the highest for a most-active contract since, June 11, 2021. The March contract is headed for a nearly 5% weekly gain.
CBOT corn Cv1 added 1 cent to $6.04-3/4 a bushel, poised for a nearly 2% gain on the week.
Wheat Wv1 firmed 5-1/2 cents to $7.51-1/2 a bushel, despite heading towards a 2.4% weekly loss after earlier hitting its weakest since Oct. 19.
Soybeans were led by earlier gains in CBOT soymeal futures SMc1, with new life of contract highs in several contract months, exacerbated by COVID-related labor concerns in Argentina.
“With Argentina on the sidelines a little bit, that leaves the U.S. as the only game in town for meal,” said Joe Davis, director of commodity sales at Futures International.
Dryness across Brazil and Argentina continue to support soybeans, while corn in the region has more time to develop before dryness impacts yields, as forecasts call for increased rainfall in Argentina in the coming 6-10 days.
Fresh U.S. export notices also underpinned corn and soybeans, with a sale of 176,784 tonnes of corn to Mexico and 120,000 tonnes of soybeans to unknown destinations, the USDA said.
(Reporting by Christopher Walljasper; Additional reporting by Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Alison Williams)
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