Good export demand powered corn futures higher Thursday. Soybeans were also higher, while wheat ended mixed.
The USDA this morning reported a private export sale of 100,800 tonnes of corn to Colombia, with an additional 392,500 tonnes to Mexico. Meanwhile, the USDA’s weekly export sales report – still catching up from the US government shutdown – pegged bookings of US corn for the week ended Oct. 30 at just under 2 million tonnes, on the higher end of trade expectations and the third highest for the 2025-26 marketing year. March corn was up 3 ¾ cents to $4.47 ¼, and December 2026 was 1 ¼ cents higher at $4.64 ¾.
Gains in soybeans were attributed to a technical bounce. Weekly export sales for the week ended Oct. 30 were reported at 1.24 million tonnes, in the middle of trade expectations.
Winter wheat contracts got some support from the gains in corn and soybeans, with a higher Canadian production estimate a bearish influence for the spring wheats. Statistics Canada today pegged the 2025 Canadian all wheat crop at just under 40 million tonnes. That was up 3.3 million tonnes from the agency’s September projection and higher than expected. US weekly export sales of 505,415 tonnes were in the middle of trade expectations. March Chicago wheat was up 2 cents at $5.40 ¼, and March Kansas City added 4 ½ cents to $5.34. March Hard Red Spring eased 1 ½ cents to $5.62 ¾, and March Minneapolis dropped 3 ¼ cents to $5.73.
