The most active corn contract for December delivery rose 2.75 cents, or 0.4 percent, to settle at 6.8825 U.S. dollars per bushel. December wheat gained 7 cents, or 0.77 percent, to settle at 9.1075 dollars per bushel. November soybean fell 4.25 cents, or 0.29 percent, to settle at 14.57 dollars per bushel.
Wheat rose on Black Sea uncertainty, while corn and soybean's focus centered on stable macro markets and U.S. and global supply rather than worsening demand prospects.
Corn and soybean markets are expected to form an intermediate top once harvests reach 30-40 percent complete, with rallies thereafter hinging upon additional supply dislocation in South America. Wheat stays tied to developments between Russia and Ukraine. Chicago-based research company AgResource fears bullish momentum will wane beyond mid-autumn, and expects a choppy, sideways and supply-driven market into the release of the October World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate (WASDE) report.
U.S. export demand is disappointing. Corn sales through the week ending Sept. 8 totaled only 7 million bushels, as against 23 million bushels in the previous week. Soybean sales totaled just 16 million bushels, as against 31 million bushels in the previous week.
It is possible that annual U.S. corn exports will be trimmed by 200 million bushels as total commitment is down 50 percent year on year, and as U.S. corn remains expensive in the world feed market.
The Gulf tropical storm is now projected to bypass energy infrastructure and travel across Alabama and into the far eastern Midwest on Oct. 1-3. Otherwise, weather forecast maintains Central U.S. in a pattern of dryness, with normal/above normal temperatures returning beyond the middle of next week. The outlook is favorable for harvest. Abnormal dryness to exceptional drought now blankets the entire U.S. hard red wheat (HRW) Belt.
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