Chicago corn and soybean futures rose for a second straight session on Thursday as favorable demand news helped curb supply pressure from an advancing US harvest that is tipped to bring in record crops.
China, the world's top soybean importer, has been snapping up US soybean cargoes in recent weeks. Soybeans drew additional support after the USDA confirmed that private exporters sold 185,000 tonnes of US soybeans to unknown destinations for delivery in the 2016/17 marketing year.
The world faces plentiful wheat supplies in coming months and this is coming into attention again. After its recent rises, US wheat needs a price pullback for export competitiveness, said Stefan Vogel, head of agricultural commodity markets research at Rabobank.
Corn drew support from weekly data on ethanol. US Energy information Administration said on Wednesday that ethanol production last week increased by 36,000 barrels per day while stocks of the biofuel fell by 351,000 barrels.
Crude oil prices rose to a 15-month high on Wednesday after a US inventory draw-down, which boosted energy shares. Energy stocks led the way up on Wall Street, boosted by the higher oil prices.
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