Markets are giving back a portion of the gains that we saw on Wednesday that were driven by more U.S. bean export demand and tightening of U.S. and global wheat balance sheets.

Managed funds on Wednesday were estimated as net buyers of 5k corn to reduce the net short to 210k, net buyers of 6k beans to reduce the net short to 149k, and 5k wheat to 38k.

Export sales are delayed until tomorrow due to Monday’s holiday. China was rumored to have purchased several bean cargoes on Wednesday, which we will look for confirmation on flash sales this morning or next week’s export sales report.

Ukraine reported their 2025 wheat area could increase by 0.3m hectares to 4.7m with the increase expected at the expense of fewer winter canola acres due to dry weather.

Ag Rural said Brazil’s soybean area would hit 46.4m hectares this growing season, which would be the slowest area growth that they’ve seen since 2006.

Low river levels are causing some problems on the lower Mississippi, with several barges running aground over the last week.  This is starting to restrict drafts, which is pushing freight rates higher.

The Biden Administration said today that they would spend $7.3b from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act to fund clean energy projects helmed by rural electric cooperatives.

French grower group AGPB estimated their soft wheat crop at 25.98mmt, which would be down from 35.08mmt last year.  Yields are estimated down 17% from a year ago due to the poor weather they dealt with for most of the growing season.

StoneX estimated U.S. corn yield at 182.9 bpa (USDA 183.1) and U.S. bean yield at 53 bpa (USDA 53.2).

Corn posted another higher high, higher low, and higher close on Wednesday, with prices able to push through and close convincingly above the 50 DMA. The market is overbought after recent gains. Support is near 4.00 and resistance is 4.10-4.20.

Beans traded an inside day on Wednesday, but they did settle at a new recent high close. The market is overbought after recent gains. Support is 10.00 and 9.80 with resistance at 10.20 to 10.30.

Corn pushed to new recent highs yesterday as the funds continued to cover shorts as less than ideal finishing weather for the U.S. corn crop and a sharply higher wheat market were supportive inputs. We have seen a solid rally from August lows with harvest expected to pick up in the coming weeks to be an upside limiting factor. Producers should make sure sales that need to be made at harvest are caught up.

Beans finished at a new recent high on Wednesday, but they failed to take out the prior day’s high when prices pulled back to finish well-below the intraday highs. Beans have seen a large move from their August lows as we have seen a steady flow of export business. With that said, we have harvest picking up across the Midwest with harvest pressure expected to be an upside limiting factor in the coming weeks. Producers should make sure sales that need to be made at harvest are caught up.

Corn down 2-3

Beans down 7-10

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