GRAINS-Soybeans jump to two-month high on Argentina weather, wheat rises 1%
“Beans seem to be the main driver at the moment because of Argentina’s storms,” said Andrey Sizov, managing director at agricultural consultancy SovEcon.
“The funds were already in short-covering mode and the weather disruption seemed to speed things up substantially. Looks like some funds were caught off guard.”
The most-active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Sv1was up 0.9% at $12.20-3/4 a bushel, as of 0316 GMT, after climbing to its highest since Jan. 26 at $12.26-3/4 a bushel, earlier in the session.
Wheat Wv1 gained 1% to $5.50-1/2 a bushel and corn Cv1 climbed 1.3% to $4.44-3/4 a bushel.
A new front of heavy rains over key grains regions of Argentina could be “very damaging” to the South American country’s current soybean and corn crops and could dent production, a local grains exchange and a weather expert said on Wednesday.
Traders are also covering short positions, analysts said, ahead of the U.S. March 28 Prospective Plantings and quarterly stocks reports, which have a history of jolting markets.
Commodity funds were net buyers of CBOT soybean, soymeal, soyoil and corn futures contracts on Wednesday and net sellers of wheat futures, traders said. COMFUND/CBT
Funds hold sizable net short positions in soybean, corn and wheat futures, priming markets for bouts of short-covering.
There was additional support for soybeans stemming from private sales of 120,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to undisclosed destinations, the first such announcement since Feb. 27.
Grain trade association Coceral on Wednesday cut its forecast for this year’s soft wheat output in the European Union and Britain by 5.4 million metric tons due to damage caused by heavy rainfall in the region.
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