CORN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Corn futures traded mixed on Wednesday, with light buying strength returning to old crop contracts, while new crop prices remained under pressure.
• Traders are positioning ahead of the USDA Prospective Planting and Grain Stocks report, which could shape market direction. Analysts expect strong demand to be reflected but also anticipate a significant increase in corn acreage compared to last year.
• Weekly ethanol production rebounded over last week. Production jumped to 325 million barrels/day (mbpd) versus 312 mbpd last week, up 5.6% over last year. An estimated 111 mb of corn was used in the production of ethanol last week. This total is still trending ahead of USDA targets for the marketing year.
• USDA export sales data will be released Thursday, with new corn sales for the week ending March 13 projected between 800,000 MT and 1.7 MMT. Last week’s total was 967,000 MT.
• With planting mostly complete on the key second crop Brazil corn, weather becomes the focus. Early-season conditions are favorable, with expected rainfall supporting crop development.

SOYBEAN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Soybeans were lower to end the day but have maintained their rangebound trade. Weather in Brazil has been relatively good for the completion of harvest, and the country has been exporting large amounts of soybeans putting pressure on U.S. demand. Both soybean meal and oil ended the day lower with meal posting the larger losses.
• Brazilian soybean basis has improved recently due to high Chinese demand despite the record large crop being harvested, and Chinese February soybean imports increased to 13.6 mmt which is up 4.4% from a year ago. Brazilian exports for March are expected to reach 15.6 mmt compared to 13.5 mmt a year ago.
• It is expected that the EPA will propose U.S. biofuel blending targets for 2026 in April or May according to Darling Ingredients. The industry is asking for a 2 billion gallon increase to biomass-based diesel volumes from existing blending targets.
• Brazil’s soybean harvest reached 70% as of March 13, the fastest pace on record per AgRural. The southeast and northern regions expect above-average rainfall in the next 6-10 days.

WHEAT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Improved precipitation chances from a Midwestern storm pressured the wheat market Wednesday, leading to profit-taking from the recent rally. HRW futures saw the most selling pressure.
• Rain and snowfall forecasts for parts of Kansas are expected to provide much-needed moisture to winter wheat crops.
• Technically, wheat futures followed through from the soft close on Tuesday. Wheat futures are testing support levels with today’s close. These levels need to hold, or the wheat market is at risk of breaking the most recent trend higher, likely leading to further downside correction.
• The USDA will release weekly export sales for wheat on Thursday morning. For the week ending March 13, reported sales are expected to range from 300,000-700,000 MT of new sales. Last week US exporters sold 783,416 MT, which was above trade expectations.

DAIRY HIGHLIGHTS:

• Class III futures posted positive gains for the first time this week, with April futures rising by 10 cents to close at $17.06.
• Spot cheese was up at close, gaining 1.25 cents to close at $1.5850/lb. Spot whey gained a cent to close up at $0.47/lb.
• Class IV milk experienced another decline, with the April contract falling by 2 cents and May dropping by 6 cents, closing at $18.14 and $18.20, respectively.
• Spot butter remained unchanged at close remining at $2.2950/lb. And once again spot powder was unchanged, still at $1.1550/lb.

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Author

Amanda Brill