By Kirk Maltais

--Soybeans for November delivery fell 1.7% to $12.62 1/2 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday, with investors taking the potential default of China Evergrande Group as a reason to withdraw from commodities and equities alike.

--Wheat for December delivery fell 1.1% to $7.00 3/4 a bushel.

--Corn for December delivery fell 1% to $5.21 3/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Pressure Point: The potential default of China Evergrande Group sent investors fleeing commodities and equities as a whole in favor of safe-haven investments. The fallout of such a failure is hotly debated among grain traders today. "We can assume that the CCP will do what it deems necessary to prevent the possible fall of Evergrande from pulling its economy down with it, which should maintain demand for commodities if it is successful in doing so," said Arlan Suderman of StoneX. "However, it will not be concerned if the downfall has other victims overseas."

Harvest Outlook: Also weighing down CBOT grain futures Monday were indications that farmers had a productive weekend of harvesting - supporting the USDA's forecasts of higher crop yields. "There is a lot of trade apprehension about potential harvest pressure and demand uncertainty after the poor export sales report last Thursday," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage. "The trade focus for the next few weeks will be on combine results as the trade tries to figure out if the U.S. yield is as good as the USDA has been indicating."

INSIGHTS

Turning the Corner: The USDA said Monday that grain export inspections have rebounded in the past week, with ports in the Gulf damaged by Hurricane Ida beginning to show signs of life. In this week's report, the USDA said that for the week ended September 16 corn export inspections totaled 403,104 metric tons, soybean inspections totaled 275,169 tons, and wheat inspections totaled 563,390 tons. For corn and soybeans, their totals are sharply higher from last week's figures. China was a big destination for U.S. corn this week, with shipments totaling 140,245 tons, second only to Mexico. China was also a leading destination for U.S. wheat and soybeans.

Cyber Victim: An Iowa farm cooperative is the latest cyberattack target. Fort Dodge, Iowa-based New Cooperative said it's dealing with a cyberattack that has hit its systems and devices, and while the farmer-owned company says it has been able to contain the incursion, it's still working to bring its systems back online as it works with law enforcement. The attack, which cybersecurity firm Recorded Future has attributed to the Black Matter ransomware group, follows a separate cyberattack that hit meatpacking giant JBS in late May, hobbling its processing plants and leading the company to pay an $11 million ransom. New Cooperative is working to transport grain to livestock and poultry farms that rely on the cooperative for feed supplies, a person familiar with the matter said.

Shift in Source: With the renewable fuels markets expected to explode this decade, U.S. soyoil capacity is expected to quickly max out - with the market already at nearly 90% capacity utilization, said Mac Marshall of the U.S. Soybean Board. As a result, the U.S. may need to import more soyoil in order to meet the growth in demand from the automotive and aerospace industries. Whether or not imports are needed depends largely on how much announced capacity expansions get built, Mr. Marshall said. "We're just going to have to see over the next couple of years," he says. In trading Monday, CBOT soyoil futures finished down 2.5% to roughly 55 cents per pound.

AHEAD:

--General Mills Inc. will release its fiscal first-quarter earnings before the stock market opens on Wednesday.

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

--The USDA will release its monthly cold storage report at 3 p.m. ET Wednesday.

Jacob Bunge contributed to this article.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 20, 2021 15:31 ET (19:31 GMT)

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