SINGAPORE (Dow Jones)--Asian grain prices are likely to gain further in
coming days, as a broad interest in commodities as a hedge against the weak
U.S. dollar will probably trigger more buying in futures traded on the Chicago
Board of Trade.

  Despite Friday's advance, the U.S. dollar index, which measures the currency
against a basket of six major currencies, suffered its biggest weekly decline
since 1985 last week.

  Fears that a monetizing of U.S. debt would further weaken the dollar indicate
probably there will be more gains in commodities prices in the coming weeks,
before people shift the focus back to the still relatively weak demand, said an
analyst with a major agricultural trading house.

  "With fresh supply from South America coming on to the market, the current
CBOT price clearly is factoring in the expectation of a weak U.S. dollar, or
possibly, inflation," said the analyst.

  CBOT May soybeans jumped to settle at $9.52 a bushel Friday from $8.76 a week
earlier.

  "If you look at the soybean-to-corn price ratio, it's cheap relative to corn,
so it probably has further upside," said Genichiro Higaki, head of the
proprietary fund management team at Sumitomo Corp in Tokyo.

  China's customs department said on Monday that the country's soybean imports
in February jumped 61% on year to 3.26 million metric tons, while soyoil
imports tumbled by 89% on year to 37,753 tons.

  Analysts said that as China's domestic soybean prices remained higher than
international prices, profitable imports of soybean are likely to continue
squeeze imports of soyoil.

  China is the world's biggest soybean importer.

  The country's wheat imports rose sharply on year to 91,476 tons in February,
while corn exports fell 91% on year to 2,670 tons in the month.

  "Commodities are bought at the moment, and for grains of which the total
supply is relatively tight, there will be new buying and short-covering ahead,"
said Higaki.