US heat to push up grain price

US grain futures have edged higher on concerns that unfavourable crop weather could threaten domestic production, as markets temporarily shook off the weight of massive global inventories.

Technical buying and short covering ahead of a monthly US Department of Agriculture report yesterday helped fuel the gains, traders told Reuters reporters.

Wheat traders were watching weather forecasts as above-normal temperatures in recent weeks have brought the crop grown in the Great Plains out of dormancy earlier than normal, leaving plants vulnerable to damage if a late-spring freeze hits the region.

“Corn bulls are keeping an eye on US weather as many inside the trade start to worry about pockets of dry conditions in the southwest Plains and problems with too much rainfall and flooding in parts of the Delta,” Kevin Van Trump of Missouri consultancy Farm Direction said.