Chicago grains stabilize following drastic up and downs
2011-03-22 17:39:53
Chicago grains on Monday staged fluctuating movement with trading on both sides of prior closing prices. Both corn and soybeans closed higher supported by higher oil prices while wheat inched down amid speculative long liquidation selling.
The most active corn contract for May delivery climbed three U. S. cents, or 0.44 percent, closing at 6.865 U.S. dollars per bushel. May wheat declined two cents, or 0.3 percent, to 7.21 dollars per bushel. May soybean rose 0.5 cents, or 0.04 percent, to 13.63 dollars per bushel.
Market traders said that corn and soybeans are mainly supported by climb of oil prices. New York crude oil rose 1.26 U.S. dollars to 102.33 dollars, as allied air strikes in Libya threatened to prolong a supply disruption in Africa's third-biggest producer.
Besides, traders betted that U.S. exported 500,000 to 1 million metric tons of corns to China, which gave another push to the market. However, U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) said that for the week ended March 17, the export inspection of corn came in at 29.5 million bushels, which was below the range of estimates and pressured the prices to some extent.
Soybeans posted choppy trading in the day. A U.S. bank estimated that the planted acreage for soybeans at 75.6 million acres, which is similar to a private forecast from Friday providing solid support.
Besides, too much rain is still an issue for the northern soybean growing areas for Brazil but traders see good weather for southern Brazil and Argentina as a partial offset. Weekly soybeans export inspection amounted to 27.7 million bushels, which was also below the range of estimates.
Meanwhile, wheat futures fell for the first time in three sessions on signs that demand is shrinking for export from the U.S. . According to USDA, about 25.7 million bushels of wheat were inspected for export, down 9.9 percent from a week earlier.
Wheat futures dropped a five-month low in the prior week after the devastating earthquake and tsunami in Japan damaged ports and political unrest in North Africa and the Middle East threatened to disrupt trade.