March 18, 2011

CBOT corn rises on market rumours

CBOT corn increased by nearly 5% on Thursday (Mar 17) on market rumours that China had bought corn from the US.

"There is talk that China bought 250,000-500,000 tonnes of US corn, but I have not been able to get a confirmation yet," said Dan Basse of AgResource Co. in Chicago.

Trade sources said the recent slump in US corn futures had made it profitable for China to import corn from the US.

"US corn is certainly cheaper than (Chinese) domestic corn right now," said a US export trader.

Chicago Board of Trade corn futures <Cc1>, which rose by the 30-cent daily trading limit on Thursday, had been on the decline since Japan was hit by a massive earthquake on Friday (Mar 11), which triggered a devastating tsunami.

China bought 1.6 million tonnes of US corn last year after a drought shrunk its domestic crop and forced the normally self-sufficient country to turn to imported corn for the first time in four years.