By Kirk Maltais


--Corn for December delivery rose 1.8% to $4.96 1/2 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, getting support from a new flash sale of U.S. corn exports.

--Soybeans for November delivery rose 1.3% to $14.06 1/4 a bushel.

--Wheat for December delivery fell 0.8% to $6.17 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


New Wave: The USDA confirmed a new round of flash sales of US grain exports, adding on to similar notices seen last week. In Monday's notice, the USDA said 123,000 metric tons of corn were sold to Mexico for delivery in the 2023/24 marketing year. Additionally, 296,000 tons of soybeans were sold to unknown destinations, for delivery in 2023/24. Returning demand is a source of support for grain futures on the CBOT, AgriTel said in a note.

Selling Opportunity: Wheat futures were pressured by poor demand for exports and were on the wrong side of a technical trade, Joel Karlin of Ocean State Research said. "What you can say about wheat, other than it is a dog with a capital D being featured as the short leg of the spread vs long corn or beans," Karlin said. Indications that Ukraine is making progress in securing alternative shipping routes supported the notion that American wheat won't soon become a key player on the world stage, he said.

Nearing the End: Brazilian farmers are approaching the end of their harvesting work in the center-south region for the 2023/24 winter corn crop, according to analysts at agricultural consultancy AgRural. As of Thursday, about 83% of the area planted with corn had been harvested, behind the 94% level on the same date a year ago, the consultancy said. The harvest delay is caused by later-than-normal planting in some areas and scant availability of storage in other areas, according to the group.


INSIGHT


Looking Toward the Future: With Pro Farmer's results showing a drop-off in crop output this year, traders are looking to the Sept. 12 WASDE to see if the USDA's forecasts align with Pro Farmer. "The tour results would imply that USDA has some work to do in the next crop report," Ken Zuckerberg of CoBank said in a note. "Yield will likely be revised downward for both crops, but particularly soybeans that are struggling in the record heat." The heat has eased from last week but how much damage was dealt to maturing crops remains to be seen.


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.

--The USDA will release its monthly Agricultural Prices report at 3 p.m. ET Thursday.


--Jeffrey T. Lewis contributed to this article.

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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-28-23 1609ET