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Strong purchases by China underpin Chicago corn futures
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UN pushes for longer extension of Black Sea grains deal
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Argentina slashes estimate for 2022/2023 harvesting season
CHICAGO, March 16 (Reuters) - Chicago corn futures ended higher for a third straight session on Thursday on U.S. export demand, while wheat lost ground as the United Nations pushed for an extension of the Black Sea grains deal, analysts said.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture made its third consecutive
announcement
of old-crop U.S. corn sales to China, totaling 1.92 million tonnes over three days. Some traders expect USDA to report sales of another 600,000 tonnes or so of U.S. corn before the week ends.
Corn
sales to China
had not flashed on consecutive days since May 2021, and the last corn flash to China before this week was in August.
Wheat fell, analysts said, as the U.N. backed Turkey and Ukraine by calling for a
120-day rollover
of an agreement allowing the safe export of grain from several Ukrainian Black Sea ports. Russia has said it would only extend the pact for 60 days.
"It looks like the Black Sea deal gets done. It's just whether it's 60 or 120 days," said Craig Turner, a commodities broker at Daniels Trading.
Soybeans reversed earlier losses to end higher on hopes for U.S. sales to China, traders said. Argentina also slashed its soybean production estimate for the 2022/2023 harvesting season to 25 million tonnes, down from 29 million tonnes previously.
The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) settled up 6-1/4 cents at $6.32-3/4 per bushel.
CBOT wheat closed down 3-3/4 cents at $6.99 per bushel. Soybeans settled up 2-1/4 cent at $14.91-1/2 per bushel, after dropping to $14.78, the contract's lowest level since Feb. 28.
The mood in grains markets was cautious given recent turmoil in broader financial markets in the wake of the collapse of two U.S. banks.
(Reporting by Cassandra Garrison in Chicago, Gus Trompiz in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Marguerita Choy)
