By Kirk Maltais

-- Corn for December delivery rose 1.2% to $3.27 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Wednesday, with grains traders waiting to sell off of bearish WASDE data until more is known about this week's Midwest wind storm.

--Soybeans for November delivery rose 1.1% to $8.83 a bushel.

--Wheat for September delivery fell 0.8% to $4.91 1/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Something In The Wind: Although the data released by the USDA in Monday's WASDE largely exceeded the expectations of analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal, grain futures trading on the CBOT were largely unmoved following the report's release. For corn--which the USDA projected higher yield and production in than analysts had--better assessments of crop damage due to wind storms in the Midwest this week are keeping traders on the sidelines. "A quiet reaction to the numbers with the market apparently wanting to assess the damage across Iowa before dropping to new lows for corn," said Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives.

Wilting Wheat: The USDA cut its expectations for world wheat production by roughly 3 million metric tons in its WASDE report, but sees global consumption dropping as well--causing world ending stocks to rise roughly 2 million tons from the agency's previous projection in July. The news is bearish for wheat traders, keeping most-active wheat futures underwater Wednesday. "This leaves us where we were before the report-seeking demand on the world stage," said Michael Zuzolo of Global Commodity Analytics.

INSIGHTS

Beijing Buying Streak: China was again in the market for U.S. soybeans exports, the USDA confirmed Wednesday. It is the fifth day in a row that China has purchased U.S. soybean exports, with the USDA confirming that China bought 258,000 metric tons for delivery in the 2020/21 marketing year. Additionally, 120,000 tons of soybeans were sold to unknown destinations for delivery in 2020/21. Over the course of the past five days, the USDA confirmed that 1.56 million tons of soybeans have been sold to China, supporting optimism among traders that U.S./China tensions may not translate into a falloff of Chinese export purchasing.

Not So Fast: Production of fuel ethanol in the U.S. again dropped this week, according to data released by the EIA. Daily production of ethanol totaled 918,000 barrels, down 13,000 barrels per day from last week. Grains traders had expected an uptick, said Terry Reilly of Futures International. "The ethanol data was perceived to be bearish for U.S. corn futures," he added. The uptick of Covid-19 cases in the U.S. may be contributing to less gasoline consumption by consumers--although ethanol inventories fell by 596,000 barrels in the past week, totaling 19.75 million barrels. That's the lowest inventories have been since December 2016.

AHEAD:

--The USDA will release its latest weekly export sales numbers at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

--The CFTC releases its weekly commitment of traders report at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.

--The USDA releases its weekly grain export inspections data at 11 a.m. ET Monday.

--The USDA releases its weekly crop progress report for the 2020/21 crop at 4 p.m. ET Monday.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 12, 2020 15:32 ET (19:32 GMT)

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