CORN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Corn futures ended the week with buying strength, supported by a short-covering rally and technical buying. A firm demand tone, dry conditions in the eastern Corn Belt, and strength in the soybean market also lent support. Despite shaking off pressure from a bearish USDA report, December corn futures ended the week down ¼ cent—marking the fourth consecutive week of lower trade.
• Export demand has remained strong for new crop corn. Current corn sales on the books for the 2025-26 marketing year are the strongest in a decade and trending 208% above this time last year. U.S. corn should stay competitively priced in the near term and export sales should reflect the advantage.
• With a record corn crop still in the forecast, market attention is turning to late August weather. Currently, the eastern Corn Belt is trending dry, raising concerns that continued dryness could trim top-end yield potential and push the crop to maturity too quickly.
• The corn market has built an improved technical signal this week after the USDA report. December corn charts established a potential double bottom on Tuesday and Thursday lows. Today, Dec corn closed above the 10-day moving average. Technical strength likely triggered some technical short covering.
• Next week could bring volatility into the corn market. Pro Farmer will run its annual crop tour from August 18-20, and the corn market will be watching the yield results. The September options expire on Friday, August 22, and markets may show some extra volatility into this event.

SOYBEAN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Soybeans ended the day sharply higher, taking back nearly all of yesterday’s losses ahead of the weekend. A drier forecast for part of the Corn Belt next week may have added support while significantly higher soybean oil prices also helped the soy complex, but soybean meal was lower.
• NOPA soybean crush was released today and showed 195.699 million bushels crushed in the month of July which was a six-month high and was above trade expectations of 191 million bushels. Domestic demand remains firm for soybean oil, but large crush numbers are causing a glut of soybean meal.
• Weather forecasts throughout the rest of the month call for warm summer temperatures and enough moisture to get through pod fill. It is possible that the USDA increases yield again in the September report, but it is also possible that export demand is lowered which could see the ending stocks number increase.
• For the week, September soybeans gained a whopping 54-1/2 cents to $10.22-1/4 and took back all losses over the past three weeks. November soybeans gained 55 cents to close at $10.42-1/2. September soybean meal gained $6.80 to $283.40 while September soybean oil gained 0.47 cents to 53.18 cents.

WHEAT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Winter wheat futures closed slightly higher today, though spring wheat could not do the same. Despite a drop in the U.S. Dollar Index, wheat just did not seem to find the same footing today as corn and soybeans. A lower close for Matif wheat did not offer any support, and neither did the lack of fresh bullish news today.
• Western Australia’s grain association, GIWA, increased their wheat harvest estimate by 2.1 mmt to 11.5 mmt due to favorable growing conditions. Despite the increase, this would still be down about 1 mmt from last year’s crop. Nationally, the wheat crop is anticipated to be near last year’s production of 34 mmt.
• The Ukrainian agriculture ministry reports that their grain harvest has reached 24.8 mmt so far this season. This represents a roughly 13% decline from the 28.5 mmt harvested in a similar timeframe last year. Wheat accounts for 19 mmt of that total, compared to 21.7 mmt a year ago.
• India has seen plentiful rains due to monsoons, which have helped to replenish water reservoirs. This should be beneficial for winter wheat, much of which relies on irrigation. India’s wheat crop is typically planted in October and November, and the nation’s farm secretary is expecting a higher planted area for winter crops this season.

DAIRY HIGHLIGHTS:

• Class III futures found some support going into the weekend after yesterday’s sell off. September futures were able to gain back 20 cents to close at $18.34.
• Spot cheese fell again on the day, closing 2.375 cents lower to $1.7775/lb. Whey was unchanged on the day at $0.60/lb.
• Class IV futures were relatively quiet on the day with Q4 2025 contracts seeing minor gains. December futures gained 12 cents to close at $18.50.
• Spot butter improved 2 cents to close right on the $2.30/lb level. Powder was also seen improving by a penny to go home at $1.27/lb.

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Author

Amanda Brill