CORN HIGHLIGHTS:

• The front end of the corn market found a little buying strength to start the week as the July futures broke a six-day selling strike with small gains. Light buying strength in the wheat market, and prices holding technical support limited the selling pressure in the corn market. July corn gained 1 ¼ cents to 418 ¾, while December corn remained unchanged at 446.
• Rainfall across the center- western part of the corn belt over the weekend with limited price gains in the corn market. Rain forecasts are expected to remain on the wetter side of normal going into the end of the week.
• USDA released weekly corn export inspections on Monday morning. For the week ending June 4, USDA shipped 1.911 MMT of corn. This was above expectations as corn exports remain strong. Total exports are still trending 27% ahead of last year, but that gap has been slowly narrowing. The USDA forecasted a 16% rise year over year.
• Brazil corn harvest of the 2^nd crop corn has begun. Key growing areas in the central and southern parts of Brazil are 4.4% complete as of last Thursday. This is running ahead of pace over last year. The second crop Brazil corn is expected to reach approximately 108 MMT.
• USDA will release the next round of crop condition report for the 2026-27 corn crop on Monday afternoon. Last week’s initial crop ratings pegged the corn crop at 67% G/E.

SOYBEAN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Soybeans ended the day lower for the seventh consecutive day as good weather spurs fund selling. Rains fell throughout the Corn Belt over the weekend, leaving crops in good shape for the rest of the month. July soybeans lost 5-3/4 cents to $11.15-3/4 while November soybeans lost 2 cents to $11.35-1/2. July soybean meal lost $5.80 to $302.70 while July soybean oil gained 0.44 cents to 74.56 cents.
• Today’s export inspections report was sluggish again for soybeans with inspections totaling 14.6 million bushels for the week ending June 4. This put total inspections at 1.325 bb, which is down 20% from the previous year. This morning, private exporters reported a sale of 254,000 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to unknown destinations for the 26/27 marketing year.
• Estimates for this Friday’s WASDE report see the average soybean yield at 52.9 bpa, which would compare to 53.0 bpa in May. 25/26 ending stocks are seen relatively unchanged, and 26/27 ending stocks are seen at 310 mb. World ending stocks are not expected to be changed significantly, and there are no major expected changes for this report.
• Friday’s CFTC report saw funds as sellers of soybeans. They sold 33,502 contracts of soybeans, leaving them long 156,050 contracts. They bought 15,015 contracts of soybean oil, leaving them long 156,433 contracts and bought 4,091 contracts of bean meal, increasing their long position to 127,070 contracts.

WHEAT HIGHLIGHTS:

• The wheat market may be trying to catch a bottom after having become very technically oversold. Both winter contracts finished the session in the green. Spring wheat, on the other hand, could not hold onto early gains and closed mostly lower. In the July contract, Chicago gained 3-1/4 cents to 583-1/4, Kansas City was up 9 cents at 629-3/4, and MIAX was unchanged at 619-1/2.
• Weekly wheat export inspections came to 11.7 mb, which brings total 26/27 inspections to 7.9 mb, up 7% from last year. Inspections are currently running above the USDA’s estimated pace; total 26/27 exports are forecasted at 775 mb, down 15% from the year prior.
• Media outlets in Russia are reporting that despite Ukraine launching drone attacks against it, the Novorossiysk grain terminal in the Sea of Azov and Black Sea region is still operating normally. Reportedly, there was no damage done to the infrastructure, and were no casualties.
• According to IKAR, Russia’s wheat exports will reach a maximum of 2.5 mmt in June. This would be down from the 3.4 mmt shipped in May. Additionally, they report that Russia’s wheat export values declined $3 last week to $242/mt.
• For the week ended June 2, the CFTC Commitments of Traders report indicated that managed funds sold over 39,000 Chicago wheat contracts. This represents a nearly 210% increase to their net short position, to almost 58,000 contracts. During the same time period, they cut their net long position of Kansas City wheat roughly in half, to about 13,500 contracts.
• The Egyptian government is said to have bought 4.5 mmt of domestic wheat from farmers since procurement began in mid-April. This represents 90% of their 5 mmt goal for this season – therefore they are likely to exceed this target. Their harvest runs from mid-April to mid-August.

DAIRY HIGHLIGHTS:

• Class III prices were able to edge higher thanks to better bidding in the cheese market.
• Spot cheese added 2.625 cents to close at $1.4825/lb while whey continues to hold at $0.67/lb.
• Class IV futures traded higher on the day despite some weakness in its products. 
• Spot butter improved 0.75 cents to settle at $1.70/lb. Powder lost 4.50 cents to go home at $2.00/lb.

 Total Farm Marketing and TFM refer to Stewart-Peterson Group Inc., Stewart-Peterson Inc., and SP Risk Services LLC. Stewart-Peterson Group Inc. is registered with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) as an introducing broker and is a member of the National Futures Association. Stewart-Peterson Inc. is a publishing company. SP Risk Services LLC is an insurance agency. A customer may have relationships with all three companies. TFM Market Updates is a service of Stewart-Peterson Inc. Futures and options trading involve significant risk of loss and may not be suitable for everyone. Therefore, carefully consider whether such trading is suitable for you in light of your financial condition.

Author

Brandon Doherty