Chicago wheat, soybeans, corn rally on USDA reports

Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean, wheat futures closed higher on Friday as traders kept digesting crop reports released by the US government a day earlier, while corn prices bounced back following the previous slump.

Chicago soybeans led the gains as the most active soybean contract for May delivery added 7.5 cents, or 0.82 percent, to close at 9.1825 dollars per bushel. May wheat delivery gained 2.25 cents, or 0.48 percent, to close at 4.7575 U.S. dollars per bushel. Corn for May delivery rose 2.5 cents, or 0.76 percent, to close at 3.54 U.S. dollars per bushel.

Soybean prices Friday extended gains to the highest level since Aug. 11, 2015, after U.S. soybean planted area estimate in 2016 released by the U.S. Department of Agriculture(USDA) in the previous session was lower than expectations, though U.S. crop exports are slowing down.

The USDA said Thursday in its weekly export sales report that for the week ending March 24, the United States witnessed exports of soybean down by 18 percent from the previous week and 49 percent from the prior four-week average.

Corn export sales of 1,136,000 metric tons, a marketing-year-high, were up 14 percent from the previous week and 22 percent from the prior four-week average, while wheat exports were down 4 percent from the previous week and 13 percent from the prior four-week average. according to the report.

Chicago corn futures regained their footing for the day as investors went bargain hunting after the prices fell by more than 4 percent in the prior session.

For the week, the most active corn contract for May delivery fell by 4.32 percent, May wheat gained 2.75 percent, while May soybeans added 0.85 percent.