Wheat, soybeans and corn rallied on speculation that foodstuff demand may gain after European leaders made progress in reining in the region’s debt crisis. Wheat for December delivery rose as much as 1.8 percent to $6.3075 per bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade and was at $6.305 at 11:10 a.m. in Singapore. The December-delivery corn contract gained as much as 1.3 percent to $6.455 per bushel. Leaders agreed on recapitalizing banks and bolstering a rescue fund. French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the euro-region’s bailout fund will be worth $1.4 trillion after governments agreed on steps to leverage guarantees. There’s a “little bit more of an upbeat mood,” Michael Pitts, commodity sales director at National Australia Bank Ltd., said by phone from Sydney today. “We’ve seen a bit of demand coming into the markets at these levels across the board for grains, largely driven out of Asia and the Middle East.” A sale by Russia to Egypt yesterday was completed at “very competitive levels,” Pitts said. Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat importer, bought 120,000 metric tons of Russian wheat at $243.44 per ton for Jan. 1 to Jan. 10 shipment, said Nomani Nomani, the vice chairman of the General Authority for Supply Commodities. The wheat was bought in two, 60,000-ton cargoes without the cost of freight, he said. Snow and showers yesterday may improve conditions for wheat in the U.S. central and south plains, although much more was needed to end the drought across the southern half of the region, forecaster Telvent DTN said in a report. Rain in the eastern and southern Midwest and Delta will favor development of the soft- red winter-wheat crop, while also delaying planting, it said. January-delivery soybeans rose 1.4 percent to $12.37 per bushel. Rough rice for delivery in January climbed 0.2 percent to $17.21 per 100 pounds. To contact the reporter on this story: Ranjeetha Pakiam in Kuala Lumpur at rpakiam@bloomberg.net To contact the editors responsible for this story: James Poole at jpoole4@bloomberg.net

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