By Kirk Maltais

-- Wheat for December delivery rose 1.7% to $7.17 3/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Thursday amid indications of growing global export demand.

-- Corn for December delivery rose 0.7% to $5.29 1/4 a bushel.

-- Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.1% to $12.84 1/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

World Wants Wheat: Wheat led the grains complex higher Thursday in response to indications that more export customers are in the market to buy wheat.

"Wheat is hanging in ... as major global importers continue to set a rash of tenders to satisfy increasing demand," said Arlan Suderman of StoneX.

China is rumored to be in the market for U.S. wheat, which is also supporting CBOT wheat futures.

After spending the first half of the week selling off with traders liquidating their positions, wheat futures are climbing again -- up over 4% in the past two days.

Flurry of Forecasting: Revisions by the International Grains Council of its world production forecasts had CBOT grains futures moving accordingly. The agency increased its estimate for global corn production by 7 million metric tons to a record 380.3 million tons, while also lowering wheat production by 1 million tons to 781 million tons, attributed to lower production in Australia and Ukraine.

Overall, the IGC says that it raised its forecasts for world total grains production in the 2021-22 season by 6 million tons. Before turning higher, corn futures traded down for much of the day.

INSIGHTS

Taking Inventory: Next week's quarterly stocks report from the USDA is the next focus for grains traders, said Karl Setzer of AgriVisor.

"This will give us our corn, soybean, and wheat inventories as of Sept. 1, which in effect are the old-crop ending stocks numbers for corn and soybeans," said Mr. Setzer. "While this report does receive market attention, the fact that harvest is already under way tends to distort the data ... the earlier start to harvest we have seen in recent years has made the September numbers less of a factor for old-crop contracts."

Good Times Ahead: The current economic conditions supporting an improvement in farm incomes -- higher prices for grains and steady, strong demand supporting these prices -- are expected to last through next year, said CoBank.

"Growing global demand for feed grains and vegetable oil generally positions U.S. farmers and retailers for continued success in 2022," said the agricultural lender. "U.S. corn and soybean stocks remain very tight and the demand imbalance in stocks and usage should persist until at least 2023."

Next week's quarterly stocks report from the USDA should provide guidance on the current availability of old crop.

Rough Waters: On-the-water shipments of grains are reported as being depressed again this week, reflecting the slowdown in shipping because of damage from Hurricane Ida to Gulf ports.

In its latest weekly grain transportation report, the USDA says that barged grain movements totaled 168,892 tons for the week ended Sept. 18. This is 4% lower than last week and 79% lower than this time last year.

Meanwhile, only seven oceangoing grain vessels were loaded in the Gulf through Sept. 16, which is also 79% less than this time last year.

The USDA reports that within the next 10 days beginning Sept. 17, 28 vessels were expected to be loaded, which is 56% less than last year.

The USDA notes that Gulf shipping data are incomplete because of the storm.

AHEAD

-- The USDA is scheduled to release its quarterly hogs and pigs report at 3 p.m. EDT Friday.

-- The USDA is due to release its monthly Cattle on Feed Report at 3 p.m. EDT Friday.

-- The CFTC is scheduled to release its weekly commitments of traders report at 3:30 p.m. EDT Friday.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

September 23, 2021 15:58 ET (19:58 GMT)

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