U.S. grain futures opened the day with corn leading gains and soybeans under pressure as planting moves forward. Traders pushed front-month corn to three-week highs, with December contracts trading back near $4.85 December corn and November soybeans recently trading around $11.55 Nov soybeans. Market participants and marketing specialists are urging growers to consider pricing portions of their crops while upside windows remain available.
July corn traded intraday around $4.65 after a run that has left the contract above its 20- and 50-day simple moving averages, supporting a short-term technical uptrend. Resistance clustered near $4.66-$4.7150 for nearby contracts as the market tests buying interest; a decisive close above that zone would give bulls a clearer path to the April highs. The national average cash corn price moved slightly higher, narrowing the basis to nearby futures but still leaving a gap that affects local marketing decisions.
Field conditions and export demand underpin the corn rally even as planting advances across the Corn Belt. USDA reports more rapid seeding than the recent five-year average, and weekly export sales showed 1.317 million metric tons of net U.S. corn purchases for the reported week, with Mexico and South Korea among top buyers; cumulative commitments for the marketing year now total 2.917B bushels sold. Tensions in the Middle East and higher crude oil earlier in the week have added cost pressure for producers, since fuel and fertilizer account for a large share of farm expenses.
Soybean pressure
Soybean futures softened after an early-week high, with July contracts slipping from recent peaks and November trading near the $11.50 area. Technical momentum for new-crop beans has weakened, leaving nearby support levels to watch around $11.68 and the April lows near $11.57. Cash soybean averages dipped modestly, keeping the old-new crop basis near recent ranges and clouding immediate merchandising choices for growers.
Export demand for soybeans remains below last year’s pace despite a weekly rebound in reported sales of 364,600 metric tons; Egypt and Japan led purchases while China did not report buys for the second straight week. Soyoil prices held near multi-year highs, while soybean meal softened, reflecting a split market where crush economics are diverging from whole-bean movement. Traders are also watching reports of potential Chinese purchases tied to an expected meeting between President Trump and Xi Jinping next month, which could alter the trade flow if it yields additional buying.
Plains drought and wheat
Wheat rallied on drought concerns across the Southern Plains but pulled back from overnight gains as profit taking set in. Western Kansas and the Panhandle have seen drought intensify, with Kansas good-to-excellent ratings falling and national winter wheat condition scores slipping; weekly wheat sales totaled 129,000 metric tons and year-to-date commitments stand just above USDA’s full-year target at 900.2 million bushels. Futures across SRW, HRW and spring contracts remain sensitive to short-term precipitation forecasts that can quickly change yield prospects.
NOAA’s latest maps show the heaviest short-term precipitation today through Monday from South Dakota through Nebraska and into eastern Kansas and Oklahoma, with lighter totals in the eastern Corn Belt. Longer-range outlooks call for cooler-than-normal temperatures and near-normal to below-normal precipitation for much of the Midwest between late April and early May, a pattern that could slow early crop development in some areas. June WTI crude futures eased slightly after earlier strength but remain elevated compared with pre-tension levels, keeping input-cost risk on farmers’ radars.
USDA’s weekly export sales report for the most recent week showed net U.S. corn sales at 1.317 million metric tons, soybeans at 364,600 metric tons and wheat at 129,000 metric tons, figures traders are using to gauge whether shipments will sustain current price levels.
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