Wheat and corn futures closed mainly lower on Thursday under pressure from the USDA’s latest supply-and-demand report, while soybeans managed to edge higher.
Corn futures weakened after the USDA left its 2025-26 U.S. ending stocks forecast unchanged at 2.127 billion bu, while also raising its estimate of world corn stocks. The market drew some early support from ongoing uncertainty around the fragile U.S.-Iran ceasefire. This morning’s weekly USDA export sales report from the USDA showed bookings of U.S. corn for the week ended April 2 at 1.36 million tonnes, near the upper end of trade expectations. New-crop bookings were on the lower end of expectations. May corn dropped 3 ¼ cents to $4.44, and December was down 1 ¾ cents at $4.74 ¼.
Wheat futures fell after the USDA increased both its U.S. and global 2025-26 ending stocks forecasts. World wheat ending stocks were raised to 283.12 million tonnes from 276.96 million previously, topping the range of trade expectations. Bookings of old-crop U.S. wheat were reported at 163,950 tonnes, topping trade estimates. New-crop bookings were below expectations. May Chicago dropped 5 ¾ cents to $5.74 ½, and May Kansas City fell 4 ¾ cents to $5.90 ½. May Hard Red Spring was steady at $6.16 ¾, and May Minneapolis was down 5 ¾ cents at $6.18 ¼.
Soybean futures bucked the broader grain weakness and posted small gains. Some support was attributed to hopes that a mid-May meeting between U.S. President Donald Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping could revive U.S. soybean sales to China. Weekly export sales were mixed but in line with expectations. May beans added 3 ¼ cents to $11.65 ¼, and November was up a ½ cent at $11.52 ½.
