By Kirk Maltais

--Corn for May delivery rose 1.9% to $5.80 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Tuesday in reaction to dry conditions seen in Brazilian crop-growing areas.

--Soybeans for May delivery rose 0.5% to $13.89 1/2 a bushel.

--Wheat for May delivery rose 0.3% to $6.29 3/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Parched: Lack of rain in Brazil's crop-growing areas pushed corn futures higher Tuesday as traders reacted "to drier-than-normal weather for central Brazil's Safrinha corn crop and to a U.S. corn planting pace that was slightly below trade expectations," says Dave Marshall of Top Ag. Traders pushed corn futures back toward its $5.85 [per bushel] pre-report high, according to Mr. Marshall. Isolated showers are expected in Brazilian crop-growing areas the rest of this week, according to DTN.

Early Look: The uptick in grains Tuesday was in part due to the planting progress report released late yesterday by the USDA showing farmers have planted 4% of their corn and 11% of their spring wheat. While this exceeds the pace of last year, the figures are actually lower than expected, said Marex Spectron. "It's obviously still very early," adds the firm. The spring planting season for corn, soybeans, and spring wheat typically lasts from April until early June.

Tuesday Turnaround: Soyoil futures finished up 3% to 52.99 cents per pound on Tuesday, a turnaround from yesterday's decline, and providing support for soybean futures. For soyoil, part of the reason for the higher trend is increased interest in export purchasing. "Egypt's GASC seeks 30,000 tons of soyoil and 10,000 tons of sunflower oil on April 15 for arrival June 1--20," said Terry Reilly of Futures International. Slim supplies of vegetable oil have been pushing prices higher globally.

INSIGHTS

Follow Fundamentals: Strong supply-demand fundamentals for U.S. row crops has become a new focus for grains traders following a ho-hum reaction to the USDA's latest WASDE report released Friday. "Strong underlying fundamentals tend to support traders buying the breaks when they happen," said Arlan Suderman of StoneX. "Buyers came back to take advantage of the recent break in grain and oilseed prices today." The less-than expected growth in planted acreage among U.S. farmers in March's prospective planting report is providing consistent support for grain futures.

Growth Spurt: Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones expect U.S. production of ethanol to climb this week to as high as 1.07 million barrels per day, which would be the highest production since late February of last year. For corn growers the return of daily ethanol production to over 1 million barrels per day would be good news as Covid-19 vaccines proliferate nationwide. Meanwhile, analysts surveyed believe that ethanol stockpiles will continue to decline, landing anywhere between 19.9 million barrels and 20.7 million barrels.

AHEAD:

--The EIA will release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

--The USDA will release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

--The CFTC will release its weekly commitment of traders report at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 13, 2021 15:32 ET (19:32 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2021 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.