GRAINS-US soybeans and corn up as Argentina drought concerns persist

By Michael Hogan

HAMBURG, January 30 (Reuters) – Chicago soybeans and corn rose on Monday on fears that drought-damaged crops in Argentina will face drier weather.

Wheat rose as a cold spell in the US grain belts raised concerns about possible crop damage, while the potential escalation of the Russian-Ukrainian war also supported prices.

Chicago Board of Trade’s most active soybean rose Sv1 1.2% at $15.27-3/4 a bushel at 11:42 GMT. Wheat Wv1 rose 0.6% to $7.55 a bushel of corn CV1 rose 0.4% to $6.86-1/4 a bushel.

The drought of recent months has damaged soybean and maize crops in Argentina and delayed sowing. recent rain prevented further reductions in the crop forecast, but drought is again expected in the coming week.

“Soybeans and corn are supported today by expectations of drier weather in Argentina, with spillovers also seen for wheat,” said Matt Ammermann, head of commodity risk at StoneX. “Last week’s rain is not considered sufficient for Argentine crops and some in the market are concerned that the drought will further damage soybeans and corn.”

“China is also back to work after the Lunar New Year holiday with hopes that there may be new demand for US soybeans and corn.”

Very cold weather in Canada is expected to move south this week across a large region of the US Plains grain belts.

“Wheat is also getting some support from forecasts of very cold weather on the US plains this week,” Ammermann said. “But as we’ve seen in the past, the actual damage done to wheat by brief cold spells can be relatively modest when the harvest arrives.

Wheat was also buoyed by fears that the war would reduce Ukraine’s production harvestsand that Russia crop would also fall short of expectations.

A new demand was visible, with Algeria issuing a offer for a nominal value of 50,000 tonnes of durum wheat.

(Reporting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg, additional reporting by Enrico Dela Cruz in Manila; editing by Jason Neely)

((michael.j.hogan@thomsonreuters.com; +49 172 671 36 54; Reuters Messaging: michael.hogan.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))

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