By Kirk Maltais 
 

--Wheat for December delivery fell 1% to $5.44 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday, reacting to indications of lower prices in Russia and Ukraine.

--Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.3% to $10.02 1/2 a bushel.

--Corn for December delivery rose 0.5% to $3.65 1/4 a bushel.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

Russian Connection: Falling prices for Eastern European and Russian wheat put pressure on U.S. wheat futures all week, and continued on Friday, "on more aggressive Ukrainian farmer selling and an easing tone in Black Sea prices," said Charlie Sernatinger of ED&F Man Capital. Earlier this week, Egypt's state grain buyer bought 405,000 metric tons of Russian wheat at an international tender, with the cheapest cargo being at $255.90 per ton--down from previous tenders.

WASDE Support: Soybean futures, which started lower Friday, turned higher mid-day, amid expectations that next month's WASDE report from the USDA will show lower U.S. soybean production. Yet predictions indicate that "Chinese demand remains strong," says Arlan Suderman of StoneX.

 

INSIGHTS

 

Press Pause: After announcing flash sales of export grains to China most days this month, the USDA has not announced a new sale to China for the second consecutive day--instead announcing that 100,000 metric tons of soybean meal had been sold to unknown destinations. Major flash sales coming to a stop, even only temporarily, was seen as a weight on CBOT grain futures Friday, and may pull them down further if the pause in flash sales to China continues.

Destocking: Stockpiles of U.S. corn are expected to be much lower than estimates made in June 2020, with predictions provided to The Wall Street Journal pegging corn stocks at 2.24 billion bushels--well down from 5.22 billion bushels reported by the USDA in its last quarterly stocks report. Soybean stocks are also expected to fall, to 575 million bushels from 1.39 billion bushels projected in June. Wheat stocks are expected to rise, however--to 2.16 billion bushels from 1.04 billion bushels in June.

 

AHEAD:

 

--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.

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

--The USDA releases its quarterly grain stocks report at noon ET Wednesday.

--The USDA releases its monthly agricultural prices report at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday.

 

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 25, 2020 15:29 ET (19:29 GMT)

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