Wheat Futures Fall as Traders Sell Into Rally — Daily Grain Highlights

By Kirk Maltais

-- Wheat for December delivery fell 1.9% to $6.04 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Thursday, with grain traders opting to sell into Wednesday's strong rally to lock in profit.

-- Corn for December delivery fell 1% to $4.28 a bushel.

-- Soybeans for November delivery fell 0.9% to $10.46 3/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Lock It In: A selling wave hit CBOT grain futures overnight after geopolitical turmoil sent grains higher Wednesday. That selling wavered in midday trade, but eventually regained its strength later in the session.

"Volume pulled back sharply overnight with corn and wheat taking some profits off move highs," said Matt Zeller of StoneX in a note.

Also pressuring futures is a forecast that came out from StoneX Wednesday, showing higher yield projections for both U.S. corn and soybeans in next week's WASDE report.

Mixed Picture: Weather in wheat-growing areas is a mixed bag, which allowed an opening for traders to sell into the 2.4% wheat gain posted Wednesday on the CBOT.

Southern Australia is receiving rainfall, as is northeast Russia, southeast Europe, and western Ukraine, said Charlie Sernatinger of Marex in a note.

Poor weather in growing areas has previously been a factor supporting a rally in wheat to back over the $6/bushel mark.

INSIGHT

Stalled Regulations: A proposed delay in the implementation of deforestation regulations by the European Commission put soybeans futures under some pressure, and may continue to do so as pausing the law is debated.

Nations such as Brazil would have been targeted by the regulations, which ban the import of commodities taken from lands deforested after December 2020 into the EU.

"It was an advantage to the U.S. since we aren't destroying rainforests to grow crops," said Linda Meyer of AgriSource.

Brazil is a leading supplier of grains abroad, particularly soybeans.

Strong Showing: Export sales for U.S. grains across the board either met or exceeded the high end of analyst estimates.

In its latest weekly report, the USDA said that 1.68 million metric tons of corn were sold for delivery in the 2024-25 marketing year, while surveyed analysts projected corn sales to land between 600,000 tons and 1 million tons.

Soybean and wheat sales hit the high end of analyst estimates this week. Soybean sales totaled 1.44 million tons across the 2024-25 and 2025-26 marketing years and wheat sales 443,700 tons in 2024-25.

AHEAD

-- The CFTC is scheduled to release its weekly Commitments of Traders Report at 3:30 p.m. EDT Friday.

-- The USDA is due to release its weekly grains export inspections report at 11 a.m. EDT Monday.

-- The USDA is scheduled to release its weekly crop progress report at 4 p.m. EDT Monday.

Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 03, 2024 15:48 ET (19:48 GMT)

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