AFTER stalling over the past month, world grain markets kicked markedly last week in response to a shock US Department of Agriculture report.
The market is still making its mind up about the accuracy of the USDA report, which saw big cuts to forecast US plants of both soybeans and corn.
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Futures markets rose 5 per cent in both soybeans and corn but then fell in the next session.
“At first the market believed the numbers, then the next session they didn’t with some of the gains given up, but the price rises may be necessary to ‘buy acres’ from northern hemisphere farmers making spring planting decisions,” said analyst Malcolm Bartholomaeus, Bartholomaeus Consulting.
