By Kirk Maltais

--Wheat for September delivery rose 3.7% to $7.29 1/2 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday, in response to hot and dry weather impacting supplies around the world.

--Corn for December delivery rose 2.6% to $5.59 1/4 a bushel.

--Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.3% to $13.53 1/2 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Stress Support: The Russian wheat crop continues to suffer from weather issues, with private ag analytical firm IKAR dropping their estimate of the 2021 Russian wheat crop to 78.5 million metric tons, a 6.5 million ton decline from the USDA's WASDE July forecast. "Russian wheat yield data remains hugely disappointing with further cuts in the crop expected," said AgResource. "The disappointing 2021 Russian wheat crop yield and dire Canadian drought offers further upside to world wheat values on tightening exportable supplies."

In Anticipation: The expectation that today's crop progress report from the USDA will show another drop in crops in good-or-excellent condition caused traders to swoop in and buy today, said Arlan Suderman of StoneX. "Fundamentally, we can say it was in anticipation of this afternoon's crop ratings," said Mr. Suderman. "Much of the action that we're seeing is technical while traders wait for greater data on the impact of this year's weather on the total crop."

Pressure Point: Rainfall that was more than expected in U.S. growing areas over the weekend was a source of pressure for grain futures in pre-market trading Monday - although that pressure was soon sapped by midday. "Rainfall over the weekend...was a bit better than what was forecasted on Friday," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage. "The fact that most of the technical indicators turned lower Friday is not helping either this morning."

INSIGHTS

Corn Inspections Surge: Export inspections for U.S. corn destined for China jumped in this week's report from the USDA. In its latest grain export inspections report, the USDA said that corn inspections totaled 1.38 million metric tons for the week ended July 29. Of that, 839,556 tons of corn were inspected for shipment to China, roughly double from last week. After trading slightly lower pre-market Monday, corn futures trading on the CBOT turned higher, supported in part by the show of Chinese interest in U.S. corn.

Stepping Out: On Friday, the CFTC reported that institutional investors were actively closing their short positions in wheat futures - reflecting expectations that hot and dry weather globally will pressure supplies of wheat worldwide. "Last week most of the buying interest was concentrated in wheat after speculators once again flipped their CBOT wheat position back to a net long," said Ole Hansen of Saxo Bank.

 
AHEAD 
 

--Ingredion Inc. will release its second-quarter earnings report before the stock market opens on Tuesday.

--The Andersons Inc. will release its second-quarter earnings report after the stock market closes on Tuesday.

--The EIA will release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 02, 2021 15:15 ET (19:15 GMT)

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