By Kirk Maltais

--Wheat for May delivery rose 1.2% to $5.55 3/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, as major wheat exporters like Brazil and Russia take measures to ensure the availability of the grain domestically.

--Soybeans for May delivery rose 0.2% to $8.55 1/2 a bushel.

--Corn for May delivery fell 0.9% to $3.27 3/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Food-Supply Focus: Countries seeking to stockpile wheat as they respond to the coronavirus pandemic buoyed traders hoping for demand for U.S. wheat. In addition to Russia instituting a quota on wheat exports last week, Egypt has stepped up buying, and Brazil is possibly dropping its 10% import tariff on grains, Karl Setzer of Agrivisor said.

Slide Continues: Corn contracts on the CBOT fell for a seventh straight session, as traders remain worried about ethanol. The market followed weakness in the crude oil market and ignored gains in the wheat and equity markets, said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage. U.S. crude prices slid more than 7% Monday, and corn has been following oil as ethanol margins are weak, hurting domestic demand for the grain. The volatility is keeping traders out of the market: Traders closed 27,000 short contracts of corn and 15,000 long contracts for the week ended March 31, according to the CFTC.

Soybeans: Soybean export inspections missed analyst targets this week, and China wasn't among the top destinations. Export inspections totaled 298,124 metric tons, below estimates of 300,000 tons to 650,000 tons, according to Terry Reilly of Futures International. Egypt and Mexico were the main destinations for U.S. soybeans.

INSIGHT

It's WASDE Time: Grain traders expect this week's WASDE report will show an increase in grain inventories for the 2019/20 marketing year, according to a survey conducted by The Wall Street Journal. Corn stockpiles are likely to grow by nearly 100 million bushels to 1.99 billion bushels, according to the survey, while soybean stocks could rise nearly 20 million bushels to 444 million bushels. Wheat inventories are expected to rise 5 million bushels to 945 million bushels, the survey said.

Lending a Hand: Big River Resources is switching production from ethanol to hand sanitizer, with the facility in Galva, Ill. expected to produce over 100,000 gallons of the cleanser per month. While this is supportive of corn consumption, Arlan Suderman of INTL FCStone said he's skeptical that America needs that much hand sanitizer to keep very many of these plants going focused on that sector.

AHEAD

--The EIA releases its weekly update on ethanol production and inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

--The USDA releases its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimate report at noon Thursday.

--The CFTC releases 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

April 06, 2020 16:20 ET (20:20 GMT)

Copyright (c) 2020 Dow Jones & Company, Inc.