CORN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Corn futures finished the session slightly higher on Thursday after the USDA report lowered old crop corn carryout due to stronger than anticipated export demand. Weakness in other grains limited the corn market’s upside. Going into Friday, July corn futures are trading 4 cents lower on the week; Dec corn futures were 8 ¾ cents lower.
• USDA released the June WASDE report on Thursday morning. While the June report is typically a quiet report, the USDA did raise the current export forecast to 2.650 BB, lowering 2024-25 marketing year carryout to 1.365 BB. This was lower than analyst expectations and helped support the old crop futures in the session.
• The USDA released the weekly Export Sales report on Thursday morning. For the week ending June 5, exporters reported new sales of 791,000 MT (31.2 mb). This total was down 26% from last week, but still within expectations. Japan was the largest buyer on U.S. corn last week.
• The Trump administration announced the EPA has completed their review of the biofuels blending requirements and should announce the targets for 2025-26 on Friday. Concerns that the total could be less than expected may limit corn futures.
• With the USDA report behind the market, the focus of the corn market will shift back to weather, and the planted acres report at the end of the month.

SOYBEAN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Soybeans closed lower on the day following an overall neutral WASDE report, which showed very few changes to the soybean outlook both in the U.S. and globally.
• June’s WASDE report showed minor changes for soybeans, but did increase the 2025/26 world carryout number from 124.3 mmt in May to 125.3 mmt. Ending stocks were left unchanged for 2024/25 at 350 MB, along with 2025/26 ending stocks at 295 mb.
• Production estimates for 2024 soybeans in Brazil and Argentina were left unchanged from the month prior in today’s report at 169.0 mmt and 49.0 mmt, respectively.
• Conab raised their soybean production forecast to 169.6 mmt, up from 168.34 mmt last month and slightly higher than the USDA’s 169.0 mmt number.
• The weather outlook over the next week remains bearish for much of the soybean belt as chances of rain step back in, which may add further downward pressure to prices.

WHEAT HIGHLIGHTS:

• After a two-sided trade, Chicago and Kansas City wheat futures posted losses, while Minneapolis made modest gains. All eyes were focused on this morning’s USDA Supply and Demand report, which was relatively neutral overall. Traders have likely moved their attention back to winter wheat harvest, which is adding pressure to those markets.
• On today’s WASDE report, the USDA kept their 25/26 all wheat production estimate unchanged from May at 1.921 mb – the trade was anticipating a slight increase. U.S. ending stocks for 24/25 were kept steady at 841 mb. However, for the 25/26 marketing year, ending stocks decreased 25 mb from last month to 898 mb due to higher exports.
• Globally, 24/25 wheat carryout declined from 265.2 mmt in May to 264 mmt today. For 25/26, there was also a decrease from 265.7 mmt to 262.8 mmt.
• The USDA reported an increase of 14.3 mb of wheat export sales for 25/26. Shipments last week at 4.3 mb were well under the 15.38 mb pace needed per week to reach their 25/26 export goal of 800 mb. Total 25/26 export commitments have reached 217 mb, up 22% from last year.
• The Rosario Exchange in Argentina has reduced their nation’s 25/26 wheat production estimate from 21 mmt to 20.7 mmt. The reason for the decline is said to be a smaller planted area due to recent heavy rains that caused flooding issues.
• Coceral has increased their estimate of 2025 European Union soft wheat production to 143.1 mmt from the March estimate of 137.2 mmt. For reference, the 2024 crop totaled 126.3 mmt. The reason for the increase was cited as favorable weather in France, Spain, and southeastern Europe.

DAIRY HIGHLIGHTS:

• Class III futures were mixed today with second month July losing a nickel. The biggest mover was September futures closing up 10 cents.
• Spot cheese fell 1.25 cents to close at $1.8450/lb. Spot whey lost the same amount to close at $0.5525/lb, down 2.75 cents for the week.
• No Class IV contracts moved from Wednesday’s closing prices with some volume among the Q3 contracts.
• Spot butter was up 1.50 cents on another 23 loads traded. Powder was unchanged.

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Author

Amanda Brill