Corn, wheat, and soybean futures finished mixed on Thursday, as traders adjusted positions ahead of the U.S. holiday weekend.
Chicago grain and oilseed markets will be closed Friday for the Independence Day holiday. The shortened trading week encouraged position-squaring and contributed to uneven movement across nearby and deferred contracts.
For corn, traders balanced generally favourable Midwest weather against supportive demand data. This morning’s USDA weekly export sales report showed old-crop corn bookings of 732,070 tonnes for the week ended June 25, within trade expectations. New-crop sales reached 767,756 tonnes, a three-week high, while accumulated 2026-27 commitments were 35.6% ahead of last year. September corn was up a ¼ cent to $4.23, but December eased ¾ of a cent to $4.41 ½.
Smaller U.S. acreage and tightening exporter supplies offered support for wheat, but the advancing U.S. winter wheat harvest and weak export demand limited gains. Weekly U.S. wheat sales totalled 300,060 tonnes, barely meeting the low end of expectations and marking the smallest total of the 2026-27 marketing year. September Chicago was down a ¼ cent at $5.99 ¾, and September Kansas City added 3 ½ cents to $6.38 ½. September Hard Red Spring dropped 9 ½ cents to $5.97 ¼, and September Minneapolis edged a ¼ cent higher to $6.18 ¾.
Soybean futures traded on both sides amid disappointing export demand. Old-crop sales fell to a marketing-year low of 41,786 tonnes, far below expectations of 300,000 to 650,000 tonnes. New-crop sales of 182,533 tonnes also missed forecasts, although they remained 16.89% above the same week last year. August beans climbed 3 cents to $11.36 ¼, and November slipped 1 ½ cents to $11.47 ¾.
