By Supunnabul Suwannakij April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Corn, wheat and soybeans rose in Chicago on buying by investors after prices slid yesterday following a U.S. government report that showed larger-than- expected inventories and excess supply. Investors bought futures after prices slumped overnight, Tetsu Emori, a commodity fund manager at Astmax Co., said by phone from Tokyo today. “Fundamentals remain negative” and gains may be short-lived as falling oil prices are clouding market sentiment, he said. Corn futures for May delivery rose 0.3 percent to $3.46 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade at 2:14 p.m. Paris time. The grain yesterday touched $3.4425, the lowest level since Oct. 6, and has dropped 16 percent this year. A record 2009 crop lifted corn stocks 11 percent from a year ago to the largest March level since 1987, the Department of Agriculture said yesterday. Soybean stockpiles were 1.27 billion bushels, 5.5 percent more than the average estimate of analysts in a Bloomberg News survey. Wheat reserves expanded 30 percent as rising global output eroded demand for U.S. grain. “We haven’t seen fundamental support that made prices rally today after being oversold last night,” Ben Barber, a futures adviser at Bell Commodities Ltd., said from Sydney. Excess supply will continue to weigh on grain markets, and prices may retreat later, he said. Wheat futures for July delivery rose 1.2 percent to $4.695 a bushel, after the grain yesterday touched a five-month low. Milling wheat traded on NYSE Liffe in Paris for delivery in May rose 0.6 percent to 126 euros ($170.02) a metric ton. The November contract was unchanged at 129.75 euros. ‘A Little Bearish’ Farmers may seed wheat on 53.8 million acres, the USDA said yesterday. That topped the average estimate of 53.3 million acres in a Bloomberg News survey of 27 analysts. “USDA numbers came in a little bearish, but maybe didn’t really warrant the downward slide that we ultimately saw in CBOT wheat futures,” Dave Norris, an independent U.K. feed trader, said in a comment on his Web site. Soybeans for May delivery in Chicago added 0.4 percent to $9.4425 a bushel after falling 3.4 percent yesterday, the most since December. The oilseed declined 10 percent in the first quarter, the most since the third quarter of 2008. U.S. farmers may plant a record acreage of soybeans this year and the second-biggest area of corn since 1946, after sowing the fewest acres with winter wheat since 1913, the USDA said yesterday. Corn Inventories Jumped Growers may raise corn planting by 2.7 percent to 88.798 million acres, up from 86.482 million last year, the USDA said yesterday after surveying about 86,000 farmers earlier this month. Analysts in a Bloomberg survey expected 89.1 million acres. Corn inventories jumped to 7.694 billion bushels from 6.954 billion the previous year, topping the 7.504 billion expected in a Bloomberg survey. “The corn stocks figure was surprisingly high, coming in at the upper end of analyst expectations,” Rabobank said in a research note. A South Korean plan to buy 275,000 tons of corn helped to boost the grain, Barber of Bell Commodities said. South Korea’s Major Feedmill Group today called bids to buy 220,000 tons of corn for arrival between August and September. The Korea Corn Processing Industry Association will buy 55,000 tons of corn for food production for arrival by Aug. 10. The trading floor in Chicago will be closed tomorrow for Good Friday. To contact the reporter on this story: Supunnabul Suwannakij in Bangkok at ssuwannakij@bloomberg.net.

Source