Corn

The USDA reported a private export sale of 125,000 tons of corn to unknown destinations this morning.

The USDA’s weekly Export Sales report indicated that 2.226 million tons of corn were booked for the 2024/25 marketing year in the week ending October 10. This figure was 82.1% higher than the previous week and exceeded estimates ranging from 1.2 to 2.2 million tons. The largest buyer was unknown destinations with 902,900 tons, followed by Japan purchasing 452,700 tons, and Colombia with 244,500 tons.

The Commitment of Traders report showed that hedge funds increased their net short positions by 63,259 contracts for the week ending October 15, bringing their total net short position to 86,988 contracts as of Tuesday. Commercial traders actively added long positions, likely for hedging purposes, reducing their net short position by 59,574 contracts to 133,036 contracts.

The December 2024 corn contract closed at 404.75 cents/bushel, down 2 cents, equivalent to a 0.49% decrease.

Wheat

The delayed Export Sales report indicated a seven-week high of 504,112 tons of wheat booked for the week ending October 10. This was at the upper range of estimates from 250,000 to 550,000 tons and represented a 16.27% increase from the previous week.

Mexico was the largest buyer with 135,000 tons, followed by the Philippines with 70,000 tons.

CFTC data showed that CBT wheat fund managers reduced their net short position by 3,436 contracts to 26,013 contracts as of October 15. For KC wheat, they increased their net short position by 604 contracts to 6,488 contracts as of Tuesday.

FranceAgriMer reported that France’s soft wheat crop was 10% planted as of October 14.

The December wheat contract closed at 572.75 cents/bushel, down 16.75 cents, or a 2.84% decrease.

Soybeans

The USDA reported private export sales of 292,800 tons of soybeans to unknown destinations this morning, along with 21,000 tons of soybean oil to Mexico.

The Export Sales data showed that 1.703 million tons of soybeans were sold for the 2024/25 marketing year in the week ending October 10, within the estimated range of 1 to 2.2 million tons. This marked the highest volume in four weeks and represented a 24.1% increase from the same period last year. China was the top buyer with 999,700 tons, followed by Egypt with 144,600 tons.

Soybean meal sales totaled 251,401 tons, within the estimate range of 150,000 to 350,000 tons. Soybean oil sales were only 403 tons, at the lowest end of the estimate range of 0 to 20,000 tons.

The Commitment of Traders report released on Friday afternoon showed that traders in soybean futures and options added 18,543 contracts to their net short position as of October 15, bringing the total to 40,341 contracts.

The November soybean contract closed at 970 cents/bushel, down 18.75 cents, or a 1.9% decrease.

Source: Compilation