Soybean futures moved modestly higher on Thursday, while both corn and wheat closed mixed.
Reports attributed some of the strength in the soybean market to technical buying, after the market had fallen to two-week lows amid worries over export demand in the wake of the US-China trade war. Today’s weekly export sales report from the USDA showed bookings of old-crop US soybeans for the week ended April 24 at 428,227 tonnes, on the higher side of pre-report trade guesses and up more than 54% from a week earlier. Gains in soybean oil were supportive as well. July and November beans each gained 5 ¾ cents to close at $10.50 ¼, and $10.24, respectively.
Corn saw some pressure from continued good export demand, with the weekly export sales report showing bookings of old-crop American corn at 1.014 million tonnes for the week ending April 24 - in the middle of trade expectations. Wet Corn Belt weather, which is expected to last into the middle of next week offered support. July corn dropped 3 ¼ cents to $4.72 ¼, and December was up a penny at $4.47 ¼.
Chicago wheat moved slightly higher while both Kansas City and Minneapolis eased. Rumours of a cargo of Soft Red Winter wheat being sold into Asia was bullish. Weekly new-crop US wheat export sales were tallied at 238,300 tonnes, in the middle of the expected 100,000 to 400,000 range. July Chicago wheat was up a ¼ cent to $5.31, July Kansas City dipped 2 cents to $5.27 ½, and July Minneapolis lost 1 ½ cents to $5.95 ½.
