Corn, soy, wheat futures climb on broad commodity strength, U.S. weather

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CHICAGO — U.S. corn, soybeans and wheat futures rose on Monday in response to worries about potentially stressful hot weather in the Midwest crop belt, coupled with bullish sentiment in crude oil and a weaker dollar, analysts said.

As of 12:24 p.m. CDT (1724 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade benchmark December corn was up 10-3/4 cents at $6.14-1/2 per bushel, after reaching $6.23-3/4, its highest since July 12.

CBOT November soybeans were up 44-3/4 cents at $13.87 a bushel, and Chicago September wheat was up 47 cents at $8.23-3/4.

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“Energies are higher, the dollar is lower, metals are higher. So you have a commodity-friendly market today, and respect for some heat coming at us,” said Don Roose, president of Iowa-based U.S. Commodities.

Corn and soybean futures sometimes follow trends in crude oil due to their respective roles as feedstocks for ethanol and biodiesel fuel.

Weather was in the spotlight as the U.S. corn crop continued to pollinate, a key phase for determining yields. Weekend rains boosted crops in the eastern Midwest, but dryness persists in western areas as forecasts called for rising temperatures.

“Hotter and drier weather is expected across the Corn Belt this week, which will increase dryness in the western Corn Belt and lead to some crop stress,” space technology company Maxar said in a daily weather note.

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Ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s weekly crop progress report due later on Monday, analysts surveyed by Reuters on average expected the government to rate 63% of the corn crop in good to excellent condition, down 1 percentage point from the previous week.

Soybean ratings were seen as unchanged with 62% of the oilseed crop rated good to excellent.

CBOT wheat futures jumped about 6%, fueled by bargain buying after the September contract tumbled nearly 13% last week, the biggest plunge on a continuous chart of the most-active contract since March 2011.

Traders continued to monitor talks among Russia, Ukraine, Turkey and the United Nations about resuming Ukraine’s Black Sea grain exports. Negotiators will most likely meet this week, Ankara said, while a Turkish official said lingering “small problems” should be overcome.

(Reporting by Julie Ingwersen in Chicago; additinoal rpeorting by Michael Hogan in Hamburg and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; editing by Susan Fenton and Richard Chang)