Grains - Soy, corn trade near multi-week highs; South America in focus

U.S. grain futures were higher during European morning trade on Thursday, with soybean and corn prices trading at multi-week highs amid concerns over crop prospects in major South American grain growers.

Grain traders continued to monitor weather conditions in key grain growing regions in Brazil and Argentina.

Weather service provider Telvent DTN said Wednesday that storms expected later this week in the two countries will continue to delay corn and soybean planting.

South America is a major grain exporter and competes with the U.S. for business on the global market. Crop losses in countries in that region could mean increased demand for U.S. supplies.

On the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, soybeans futures for January delivery traded at USD14.5462 bushel, up 0.6% on the day.

The January contract rose by as much as 0.65% earlier to hit a daily high of USD14.5488 a bushel.

Soy prices hit a two-week high of USD14.5662 a bushel on November 27 after Brazil-based industry group Celeres said that approximately 74% of the nation’s soybean crop was planted as of last week, compared to 81% in the same week a year earlier.

The Buenos Aires Cereals Exchange said on November 22 that 37% of the nation’s soy crop was planted as of last week, compared to 47% a year ago.

Despite recent gains, soybean prices are still down nearly 19% since hitting an all-time high of USD17.8888 a bushel on September 4, amid easing concerns over shrinking global supplies.

Meanwhile, corn futures for March delivery traded at USD7.6612 a bushel, up 0.35% on the day.

The March contract rose by as much as 0.4% earlier in the session to hit a daily high of USD7.6688 a bushel. On Wednesday, prices rose to a five-week high of USD7.6737 a bushel.

Despite the recent upward trend, corn futures are still down approximately 9% since touching a record high of USD8.4237 a bushel on August 10, as a combination of easing concerns over the size of the U.S. harvest.

The U.S. produced 38% of the world's corn last year, making it the both world's largest corn producing nation and the largest exporter of the grain.

Elsewhere, wheat for March delivery traded at USD8.9225 a bushel, adding 0.2%. The March rose by as much as 0.3% earlier to hit a session high of USD8.9275 a bushel.

Wheat futures rose to a two-week high of 8.9512 a bushel on Wednesday, amid concerns over U.S. winter-wheat crop conditions, which fell to the lowest level for this time of year since 1985 last week.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture said Monday that approximately 33% of the U.S. winter-wheat crop was in ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ condition as of last week.

Nearly 34% of the crop was rated ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ a week earlier. 52% of the winter-wheat crop was ‘good’ to ‘excellent’ in the same week a year ago.