GRAINS-Corn hits more than one-year high on Argentina drought, soy also higher

Updates at 1150 GMT

PARIS/BEIJING, Jan 21 (Reuters) - Chicago corn futures hit a more than one-year high on Tuesday, with soybeans also rising on worries of a drought in Argentina and rains in Brazil.

The most active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) Cv1 was up 0.5% to $4.86-1/2 a bushel at 1153 GMT, after hitting $4.90-1/2 in overnight trade, the highest since Dec. 8, 2023.

The exchange was shut on Monday for the Martin Luther King Jr. Day holiday.

CBOT soybeans Sv1 were up 1.45% to $10.49-1/4 a bushel. Wheat Wv1 was up 1.4% to $5.46-1/2 a bushel.

Recent rains in Argentina's agricultural heartland failed to alleviate concerns that the ongoing drought could further hurt crop yields, the Rosario grains exchange said, days after flagging that the nation's corn and soybean production would be lower than its previous forecasts.

In Brazil, the soybean harvest for the 2024-25 season is at its lowest for this time of the year since the 2020-21 cycle due to excessive rains in top grain-producing state Mato Grosso.

Algerian state agency ONAB has issued international tenders to purchase up to 240,000 metric tons of animal feed corn and about 50,000 tons of soymeal, European traders said.

Markets around the globe reacted to the beginning of Donald Trump's presidency. He did not immediately impose any tariffs when he took office on Monday, but said he was thinking about imposing 25% duties on imports from Canada and Mexico on Feb. 1.

In wheat, Egypt’s state grain buyer, Mostakbal Misr, has made a significant purchase of Russian wheat, set for shipment this month, three sources familiar with the matter told Reuters.

Russian export prices declined last week in the face of competitive offers from other global exporters.

In major importer China, officials and citizens alike are hopeful, but on edge, as Trump returned to the White House, eager to avoid a repeat of the bruising trade war that drove a wedge between the economic superpowers during his first term.

China's soybean imports from the United States dropped 5.7% in 2024 from the previous year and were replaced by Brazilian and Argentine shipments as fears of a renewed Sino-U.S. trade war hammered the U.S. market share to 21%.

(Reporting by Mei Mei Chu and Sybille de La Hamaide. Editing by Sumana Nandy and Mark Potter)

((meifong.chu peter.hobson@thomsonreuters.com;))