By Kirk Maltais


--Wheat for September delivery fell 3.1% to $6.37 1/4 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade on Wednesday, with concerns about the fighting in the Black Sea giving way to positioning ahead of Friday's WASDE report from the USDA.

--Corn for September delivery fell 0.6% to $4.96 1/4 a bushel.

--Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.3% to $13.10 1/4 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Easing Turmoil: With no fresh headlines out of the Black Sea war this morning, grain traders returned their focus for wheat back to fundamentals. "That allows traders to focus on weak demand for U.S. wheat as Russia continues to dump record amounts of cheap wheat on the world market," said Arlan Suderman of StoneX. Positioning ahead of Friday's WASDE report was the dominating force in trading today.

Bottom Line: Corn slid in anticipation of Friday's WASDE - which traders think may show a looser balance sheet. The USDA may cut expectations for corn exports, which would mean less consumption of what may be a large U.S. crop, said Sterling Smith of AgriSompo. "Corn should confirm a big crop is coming," he says. "The soybeans are more of a wild card and it is possible that enough tightening there can support corn a touch."

New Wave: Tightening supply for the U.S. soybean crop was one factor supporting those futures - along with the USDA announcing a new flash sale of soybeans to China, confirming a new wave of demand for U.S. product. Some 251,000 metric tons of soybeans were sold there for delivery in the 2023/24 marketing year. It's the second flash sale of soybeans to China this week, with the first sale reported on Monday with 132,000 tons of soybeans sold to China in 2023/24, along with 251,460 tons of corn sold to Mexico for 2023/24.


INSIGHT


Short Term Outlook: Fresh export sales of U.S. soybeans topped nearly 3 million metric tons through the week ended July 27, according to USDA data. Analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal say that they think new sales will step back in the USDA's upcoming weekly report tomorrow - which will cover new sales through August 3. Analysts forecast sales to land anywhere from 575,000 tons to 1.65 million tons. Corn exports, however, may turn higher. Analysts forecast sales between 350,000 tons and 1.2 million tons, versus 456,400 tons sold for the week ended July 27.

Turn Down for What: Daily production of ethanol in the U.S. has slid for the second consecutive week, shrinking back to levels last seen in early June. In its latest weekly report, the EIA said that average daily ethanol production for the week through Aug. 4 was 1.023 million barrels a day, which is down from what was almost a record of 1.094 million barrels a day reported two weeks ago. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones had expected only a slight pullback in production.


AHEAD


--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 World Supply and Demand Estimates report at noon ET Friday.

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


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

08-09-23 1510ET