Wheat futures climbed Thursday on a U.S. frost threat, while corn ended lower and soybeans were mixed.
Already plagued by drought conditions in parts of the U.S. southern Plains, the American winter wheat crop could face another weather threat this weekend. Forecasts say temperatures could fall to 32 degrees F or below along and northwest of a line from the northern panhandle of Texas to Lake Huron. Meanwhile, this morning’s USDA weekly export sales report showed bookings of old-crop U.S. wheat for the week ended April 9 at 100,318 tonnes, on the low side of trade expectations. New-crop bookings of 131,000 tonnes were in the middle of trade guesses.
Corn drifted a bit lower, with some pressure coming from an upwardly revised Argentina 2025-26 corn production estimate. On the other hand, planting in most Midwest areas is likely to remain slow through the weekend. Weekly export sales for corn were routine, with old-crop bookings of 1.4 million tonnes and new-crop bookings of 56,460 tonnes both generally within expectations. May corn slipped 2 ¾ cents to $4.48 ½, and December eased 1 ¼ cents to $4.76 ¾.
Bookings of U.S. soybeans for the week ended April 9 amounted to 247,886 tonnes, on the lower end of expectations. No new-crop soybean sales were reported. May beans fell 3 ¼ cents to $11.63 ¾, and November added 1 ½ cents to $11.56.
