CORN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Harvest pressure and weak export inspections total kept sellers active in the corn market to start the week. December corn lost 7 ¼ cents to 467, while March fell 6 cents to 480 ½.
• The USDA will release the latest harvest progress on this afternoon’s crop progress report. Corn harvest was only 33% complete last week as producers pushed heavily on the soybean harvest. The bulk of corn harvest should be building this week as weather conditions look favorable.
• The USDA released the Weekly Export Inspections report on Monday morning. For the week ending October 15, export shipments totaled 672,000 MT (26.5 MB). This total was well below market expectation. Total corn inspections are down 2% compared to last year.
• Friday’s Commitment of Traders report showed managed money reduced its net long position in corn futures and options by 86,482 contracts to 230,877. During the 2026 calendar year, funds have ranged from a net short position of roughly 81,000 contracts to a net long of about 426,000 contracts.

SOYBEAN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Soybeans ended the day sharply lower across the entire soy complex, pressured by a lack of fresh news over the weekend and continued dry weather allowing harvest to progress across parts of the U.S. November soybeans are down 8-1/4 cents at 12.53 and January soybeans are down 7-1/2 cents at 12.68-1/4.
• USDA confirmed export sales of 114,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to China and 261,000 metric tons to unknown destinations for delivery in the 2026/27 marketing year.
• Soybean inspections totaled 73.6 million bushels, well above expectations and the highest weekly total in nearly two years. Year-to-date inspections of 263 million bushels are up 27% from last year, compared to the USDA forecast for a 12% increase. China accounted for 47 million bushels, followed by Mexico at 8 million, while Germany and Japan each took 3–4 million bushels.
• A mild weather pattern is expected across Argentina over the next two weeks, while wet conditions are forecast for southeastern Brazil. The rest of Brazil is expected to see favorable conditions for planting.
• In the U.S. soybean harvest has likely passed the halfway mark last week, with 46% of the U.S. crop harvested as of Oct. 11, up from 25% but behind the five-year average of 50%. Illinois reached 48%, Indiana 44% and Iowa 31%, still well behind its five-year average of 59%.

WHEAT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Wheat finished the session with losses across the board, with fund selling likely contributing to weakness. Additionally, advancing harvest on corn and soybeans may have spilled over some pressure into the wheat complex. In the December contract, Chicago lost 5-1/4 cents to 6.55-1/4, Kansas City was down 4-1/2 cents at 699-1/2, and MIAX last traded 6-1/4 cents lower at 670-1/4.
• Weekly wheat export inspections came in at 8.8 mb, which brings total 26/27 inspections to 265 mb, down 36% from last year. Inspections are currently running well below the USDA’s estimated pace; final exports in 26/27 are forecasted at 750 mb, down 17% from the year prior.
• According to APK-Inform, Ukrainian grain shipments for the week ended October 14 were up 29% from the week before, at 373,000 mt. Wheat shipments accounted for 295,500 mt of that total, which was up 23.6% from the previous week.
• Friday afternoon’s CFTC report indicated that managed funds sold about 12,000 wheat contracts across all three classes for the week. This reversed their overall position to net short around 6,000 contracts. This represents the first time in three months that they have held a net short position in wheat.
• Chinese customs data indicates that their imports of wheat and wheat flour during the month of September totaled 310,000 mt. This represents at 22.3% decline year over year for that month. However, year to date, their imports increased 27.9% to 3.83 mmt.
• Russia is reportedly seeking approval to export winter wheat (from select regions) to China. Currently, Russia is only approved to ship spring wheat to China.

DAIRY HIGHLIGHTS:

• Class III futures finished out Monday with solid gains as the second month November contract pushed 36 cents higher to $17.70.
• Spot cheese was up 3.375 cents to move to $1.6580/lb, a new high for the year, while whey was unchanged.
• The nearby Class IV contracts jumped around 50 cents today, a nice recovery after last week. November settled at $21.40.
• Spot butter was up a couple cents to $1.3850/lb, while powder rebounded 3.75 cents to $2.20/lb after facing some losses last week.

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Author

John Heinberg