By Kirk Maltais


--Corn for May delivery rose 0.9% to $6.33 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Thursday, in response to the USDA confirming for the third consecutive day that China purchased a large portion of U.S. corn exports.

--Soybeans for May delivery rose 0.1% to $14.92 a bushel.

--Wheat for May delivery fell 0.7% to $6.99 3/4 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Big Volumes: The USDA announced a large flash sale of corn to China, this time for 641,000 metric tons for delivery in the 2022/23 marketing year. That makes 1.92 million tons of corn sold to China in the three days. "Demand has returned to corn," Jack Scoville of Price Futures Group said.

Pressure Point: Wheat was under pressure for most of the day, due to news of Egypt's latest tenders, with a Russian offer being the lowest at $301.50 a ton. "Egypt comes in with the reality check," John Payne of Hedgepoint Global said. "Prices continue to leak lower." Lower prices for Russian exports has been a key factor pressuring wheat prices down globally in recent months.

Great Expectations: U.S. grain export sales landed at the high end of trader expectations. The USDA said Thursday that for the week ended March 9, sales of wheat totaled 492,600 metric tons across the 2022/23 and 2023/24 marketing years, while corn sales totaled 1.42 million tons and soybean sales totaled 731,100 tons.

Risk Averse: Grain traders maintained a risk-off stance Thursday, in case of new developments regarding global banking concerns. "Traders are loath to take on new risk until after the weekend," said AgResource in a note. "They do not want to get caught in any bank liquidity issues as U.S. and European regulators look through the capital positions of their regional banks."


INSIGHT


Moving In: While weather in Argentina is becoming less of a force moving soybean futures, it's still being watched by traders. Much of the risk premium for soybeans in recent months is coming from drought conditions in the country. Isolated showers are expected to begin in Cordoba and northern Buenos Aires on Monday, while rainfall is expected to start in La Pampa and southern Buenos Aires over the weekend, according to agricultural research firm DTN. However, the effect on soybeans there is expected to be limited. "Better chances for rainfall may be favorable for filling soybeans in Argentina, but ongoing heat will still cause stress to soybeans where precipitation will be limited," said DTN in a note.


AHEAD


--The USDA will release its monthly Cattle on Feed report at 3 p.m. ET Friday.

--The CFTC will release its weekly Commitment of Traders report at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.

--The USDA will release its weekly grains export inspections report at 11 a.m. ET Monday.


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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

03-16-23 1623ET