By Kirk Maltais

-- Soybeans for May delivery rose 1.1% to $14.33 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday in reaction to both adverse weather conditions globally as well as limited inventories of soy products such as soyoil.

-- Wheat for May delivery fell 0.2% to $6.52 1/2 a bushel.

-- Corn for May delivery declined 0.8% to $5.85 1/2 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Fryday: Grain futures mostly turned lower Friday, with the exception of soybean futures.

Soybeans largely are coasting off the strength of soyoil, said Arlan Suderman of StoneX. "The soybean complex remains the strength of the ag sector at midday," he said.

Soybean futures have now risen for four consecutive trading sessions, climbing 3.4% in that timeframe based on cold temperatures stifling U.S. planting and weather also causing delays in Brazilian harvesting. Low inventories of vegetable oil globally have supported soyoil prices with the U.S. most-active contract closing up 2.6% to over 54 cents per pound Friday.

Deep Freeze: Grain futures on the CBOT were higher in pre-market trading Friday, before paring gains during the day. The pre-market uptick was seen as an extended reaction to cold temperatures descending on the Midwest this week.

"Late season snows are flying across the Western Plains with a few reports of sleet," said AgResource. "Low temps in the mid to low 30's [are] widespread across the Central U.S. and the trend of overnight lows in the 30's is forecast to continue into late April. The outright chill will retard seed germination and emergence."

INSIGHTS

Absentee Slip: Thursday's export sales report from the USDA showed little in the way of new sales to China, which pressured grain futures Friday and may continue to in the short term, particularly for corn.

"China has disappeared from the U.S. corn market, with the second-largest economy failing to crack the top five destinations for U.S. corn in the USDA data," said Robert Yawger of Mizuho Securities USA.

The USDA last confirmed a flash sale of U.S. corn exports in March, that to an unknown destination.

Long and Short of It: Long positions held in CBOT grain futures by managed money firms expected to show a decrease in Friday afternoon's commitments of traders report from the CFTC.

In a note Friday, Marex Spectron said it forecasts net long positions falling for the week ended April 13 for both corn and soybeans. For corn, the net long is expected to be well down from a decade high reached in early February.

In last week's report, the CFTC said managed money held a net long positions of over 141,000 contracts in soybeans, and a net long in corn of nearly 380,000 contracts.

AHEAD:

-- The USDA is scheduled to release its weekly export inspections report at 11 a.m. EDT Monday.

-- The USDA is due to release its weekly crop progress report at 4 p.m. EDT Monday.

-- The EIA is scheduled to release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

April 16, 2021 15:46 ET (19:46 GMT)

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