By Kirk Maltais


--Corn for December delivery rose 0.7% to $4.99 1/2 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade on Tuesday, moving higher as traders prepare for Friday's WASDE report from the USDA.

--Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.3% to $13.05 1/2 a bushel.

--Wheat for September delivery fell 0.4% to $6.54 1/4 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Making Cuts: U.S. crop production is expected to inch backwards in Friday's WASDE report, according to analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. Analysts are forecasting corn production to total 15.13 billion bushels, with a yield of 175.4 bushels per acre. Soybeans production is forecast at 4.24 billion bushels, with a yield of 51.2 bushels per acre. For both crops, production and yield is slightly off from last month's predictions. Wheat production is expected to total 1.74 billion bushels, which would be up 1,000 bushels from the previous month's report. Similar estimates coming from other analysts helped provide corn and soybeans support later in the trading session.

Early Pressure: Corn and soybean crop conditions were reported as improving by the USDA late yesterday, initially pressuring those futures before they rose later in the day. U.S. corn in good or excellent condition totaled 57%, which is up 2 points from last week. Soybeans in good or excellent condition totaled 54%, which is also up 2 points from the previous week. "We had some 'sell the rumor, buy the fact' trading today off the condition reports," said Charlie Sernatinger of Marex in a note.


INSIGHT


Mild Skies Ahead: Milder weather conditions seen in recent days are expected to stay in place in the coming weeks - a source of consistent pressure for grain futures going forward. "The weather has certainly improved with lower temperatures and more widespread rainfall forecasted for the next 10 days to 2 weeks, so from a supply perspective the selling makes sense," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage in a note.

Bountiful Harvest: Higher projections for both the Russian wheat crop and wheat exports is another pressure point for futures this week. "Two Russian agricultural consultant firms upwardly revised their forecasts for Russia's wheat crop and wheat exports in the 2023/24 crop year that has been underway since the beginning of July," said Commerzbank in a note. However, the firm notes that whether these increased volumes of wheat reach world markets is in question, due to the escalating fighting seen between Russia and Ukraine.


AHEAD


--The EIA will release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

--The USDA will release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

--The US Drought Monitor will release its updated map at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday.


Write to Kirk Maltais


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-08-23 1518ET