 agricultural futures closed mixed on Thursday, with corn rising and wheat and soybean falling.){kind=link}
Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) agricultural futures closed mixed on Thursday, with corn rising and wheat and soybean falling.
The most active corn contract for December delivery rose 5.25 cents, or 1.09 percent, to settle at 4.885 U.S. dollars per bushel. December wheat fell 0.75 cents, or 0.13 percent, to settle at 5.7875 dollars per bushel. November soybean lost 2.75 cents, or 0.21 percent, to settle at 13.005 dollars per bushel.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) Stocks and Final Small Grain report is due out Friday. End-of-month and end-of-quarter position squaring is ongoing with liquidation noted in soybeans. China is out on holiday next week. Chicago-based research company AgResource sees 2022-2023 U.S. corn end stocks at 1,409 million bushels and soybean stocks at 220 million bushels. CBOT volatility is ahead.
Newswires report that China has booked a large amount of Ukraine corn for November and December, but the execution of the sale will be difficult.
U.S. weekly export sales for the week ending Sept. 21 were 20 million bushels of U.S. wheat, 33.1 million bushels of corn and 24.7 million bushels of soybeans.
For respective crop years to date, the United States has sold 337 million bushels of wheat, down 14 percent year on year; 495 million bushels of corn, down 3 percent; and 652 million bushels of soybeans, down 33 percent.
China has booked 7 million metric tons of U.S. soybeans. AgResource looks for China to take 1,050 million bushels of U.S. soybeans in 2023-2024.
The European Union cuts its wheat crop estimate by 700,000 metric tons to 125.3 million metric tons, and corn crop by 1.9 million metric tons to 59.8 million metric tons.
There are rumors that China has shifted three to six cargoes of U.S. soybeans to Brazil and Argentina due to cheaper price offers.
It is drier across the Western Midwest and wetter across the Eastern Midwest. Neither area has rain that will delay harvest for more than a few days. Much cooler temperatures and frost are forecast to touch the Northern Plain and the Upper Midwest after Oct. 8.