Corn set for decade’s biggest weekly gain after acreage surprise

PARIS: Chicago corn futures were set on Friday for their biggest weekly climb in 10 years as prices extended a rally fueled by a lower-than-expected US acreage estimates and dry weather in part of the US Midwest.
Soybeans also extended gains as doubts about US harvest prospects added to tensions in global oilseed markets. Wheat was little changed as the market weighed the rally in corn and drought damage to North American spring wheat against supply pressure from the start of winter wheat harvesting.
On Wednesday, corn futures climbed by their daily exchange-imposed limit after the USDA pegged plantings of the crop at 92.692 million acres, below an average trade expectation of 93.787 million.
The lower than anticipated crop area has made the market more sensitive to low moisture in northern and western portions of the US crop belt.
“The focus now returns to the drying north-west of the US Midwest,” said Tobin Gorey, director of agricultural strategy at Commonwealth Bank of Australia.
The risk of frost damage to Brazil’s second corn crop, already diminished by drought, has also fanned corn supply fears this week.
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) was up 0.5 percent at $5.91-3/4 a bushel by 9:53 a.m. GMT, although it was below Thursday’s high above $6. The contract has gained 14 percent this week, the biggest weekly rise since April 2011. CBOT soybeans were up 0.8 percent at $14.06-1/2, while wheat was 0.2 percent higher at $6.66-3/4.