Bloomberg Soybeans, Corn Rise on Signs U.S. Exports Are Eroding Supplies

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Soybean prices rose to seven-month highs, and corn resumed its rally on signs that increased global demand is eroding inventories in the U.S., the world’s biggest grower and exporter of both crops.

Soybean-export sales in the four weeks ended May 7 were more than double the year-earlier period, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said today. Sales of soybean meal, an animal feed, jumped 92 percent from a week earlier. The USDA also reported 120,000 metric tons of new soybean sales to China. Corn sales last week jumped 59 percent, the agency said.

“The export sales were better than expected last week, and China added to their purchases overnight,” said Roy Huckabay, an executive vice president at the Linn Group in Chicago. “Overseas traders are much more concerned about declining U.S. supplies than U.S. traders.”

Soybean futures for July delivery gained 19.5 cents, or 1.7 percent, to $11.475 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade, the biggest gain since May 1. The price earlier touched $11.48, the highest since Sept. 29.

Corn futures for July delivery rose 1.75 cents, or 0.4 percent, to $4.2825 a bushel in Chicago, the fifth gain in six sessions. Yesterday, the price reached $4.34, the highest for a most-active contract since Oct. 9.

Planting delays

Prices also rose as rain delays planting in the Midwest, Huckabay said.

Some fields from Kansas to Ohio may get more than 4 inches (10 centimeters) of rain in the next five days after getting more than 2.5 inches in the past 24 hours, said Mike Tannura, a meteorologist for T-Storm Weather in Chicago. Some fields will receive a month’s worth of rain in the next five days, he said.

Corn planting in the top 18 growing states, which seeded 92 percent of last year’s crop, rose to around 48 percent complete this week, up from 33 percent a week earlier, USDA said May 11. The average was 71 percent at this time from 2004 to 2008. more...