By Kirk Maltais

 

-- Corn for December delivery rose 1.7% to $5.25 3/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Friday as trader attention turns to stronger demand and a reluctance by farmers to sell into cash markets.

-- Wheat for December delivery rose 1.3% to $7.34 a bushel.

-- Soybeans for November delivery rose 1% to $12.17 3/4 a bushel.

 

HIGHLIGHTS

 

Demand Deluge: Demand is the main driver for CBOT grain futures Friday. More specifically, farmers appear to be holding off on selling their harvested crop into the market.

"U.S./world farmers have disengaged from new cash sales as profit margins of world soy crushers, ethanol producers, and even livestock producers soar," said AgResource. "The primary reason for the risk of higher CBOT prices is 'demand'."

 

Hit the Brakes: The U.S. grain harvest has progressed this year faster than other years, but traders anticipate a hurdle this weekend via rainfall sweeping through the U.S.

"A system moving through the region will bring moderate rainfall and potential for severe weather across southeastern areas into early Saturday before leaving," said DTN about rainfall moving through the Midwest. "Widespread moderate rain recently has caused delays for corn and soybean harvest and will take some time to dry out as temperatures cool back closer to normal through next week."

Earlier this week, the USDA reported that the U.S. corn harvest is 41% complete and soybeans are 49% complete.

 

Chinese Interest: The USDA announced a new round of flash sales of grains Friday morning, saying that 396,000 metric tons of soybeans have been sold to unknown destinations for the 2021-22 marketing year, in addition to 132,000 tons of soybeans sold to China for 2021-22.

Grain traders have been watching for China to announce new purchases in response to the recent decline in prices following Tuesday's WASDE report from the USDA.

"Beans were up all session long, pushed up by a big Chinese boat trade yesterday," said Charlie Sernatinger of ED&F Man Capital.

 

INSIGHTS

 

Tight Budgets: The sky-high costs for fertilizer -- driven by higher energy prices and shortages of certain ingredients -- are expected to be a factor limiting row crop planting in the next crop year.

"There are a lot of ideas that production and planted and harvested area will be significantly less next year due to the lack of fertilizers available and the cost of production," said Jack Scoville of Price Futures Group.

 

Slower Rate: Soybeans crushed in the U.S. for the month of September are down from the previous month's rate, according to the latest report for the National Oilseed Processors Association. NOPA pegged the rate of soybeans crushed through September 2021 at 153.8 million bushels, which is down from 158.8 million bushels in August and 161.5 million bushels at the same time last year. Demand has become a bigger topic for grains markets this month, but the lesser crush rate didn't spark strong movement in soybeans.

"The complex is holding on to gains overall," said Matt Zeller of StoneX. "Crush and oil stocks a bit bearish this month but strong domestic meal usage remains."

 

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

October 15, 2021 15:48 ET (19:48 GMT)

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