CANBERRA, – Chicago soybean futures rose to their highest in six weeks on Thursday, adding to their gains after the U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast a much smaller harvest than previously expected.
Corn also edged higher, having plunged more than 3% on Tuesday to contract lows after the USDA raised its outlook for the U.S. corn crop.
Wheat climbed from Wednesday’s five-year low but remained under pressure from low corn prices and plentiful global supply.
* The most active soybean contract on the Chicago Board of Trade was up 0.4% at $10.48-1/2 a bushel at 0153 GMT, with CBOT corn rising 0.2% to $3.98 a bushel and wheat 0.3% higher at $5.08-1/2 a bushel.
* Soybeans are now up 6.2% so far this week, boosted first by U.S. President Donald Trump saying he hoped China would quadruple its purchases from the United States and then by Tuesday’s USDA report.
* The USDA cut its estimate of the area planted to soybeans in the United States and raised its estimate of the corn area, surprising traders with the scale of the revisions.
* However, the global soybean market remains well supplied after large harvests in South America, and top importer China has been shunning U.S. beans, keeping Chicago prices low.
* U.S. soybean exporters risk missing out on billions of dollars worth of sales to China this year as trade talks drag on.
* In corn, U.S. farmers are on track for a record-breaking corn in 2025/26, the USDA said, swelling global supply as Brazil wraps up a bumper harvest.
* Argentinian farmers plan to increase corn planting by between 15% and 20% in the 2025/26 season, the Rosario grains exchange said, and drought in parts of Ukraine are unlikely to affect its corn production, according to producers’ union UAC.
* An index of global equity markets rose to a record high for the second straight session on Wednesday, partly underpinned by bullish sentiment on Wall Street as investors positioned for a likely interest rate cut from the U.S. Federal Reserve.
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