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Prices rise after USDA cuts U.S. soy, corn harvest outlook
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Grains supported by drought in Argentina, southern Brazil
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U.S. markets closed Monday for Martin Luther King Jr. Day
CHICAGO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - U.S. soybean futures climbed for a third straight day on Friday and corn scaled to a 1-1/2 week top on follow-through buying after bullish U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) crop data the prior day and concerns about poor South American weather.
Both markets gained more than 2% since the USDA unexpectedly cut its 2022 U.S. harvest estimates in a monthly report on Thursday and forecast tighter supplies than traders had expected.
Traders also focused on adverse crop weather in South America and squared positions ahead of a three-day weekend, with U.S. markets closed on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.
"It's a little bit of follow-through buying from yesterday and it's a little bit of positioning ahead of the long weekend," said Craig Turner, a grain broker with StoneX.
"I'm not sure you want to be short corn and soybeans heading into a long weekend during a weather market in South America."
Rain is expected in some areas of Argentina over the next two weeks, but a large share of its corn and soybean crops will remain stressed by the country's worst drought in 60 years, forecasters said.
Chicago Board of Trade March soybeans settled up 9-1/4 cents at $15.27-3/4 a bushel, with a weekly gain of 2.3%. March corn added 4 cents to $6.75 a bushel for a 3.2% weekly gain that was its strongest in 4-1/2 months.
Wheat futures were mixed as traders weighed the USDA's larger-than-expected winter wheat plantings estimate in Thursday's reports against tighter supplies and poor crop conditions in the U.S. Plains farm belt.
CBOT March wheat was up 1 cent at $7.43-3/4 a bushel, near unchanged for the week. (Reporting by Karl Plume; additional reporting by Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris and Naveen Thukral in Singapore; Editing by Sherry Jacob-Phillips, Subhranshu Sahu and Grant McCool)
