Corn fell for the fourth day on Wednesday, as bearish sentiment ahead of the USDA Agricultural Outlook Forum continued to overhang the market. Soybeans and wheat also ended lower.
Beginning tomorrow and running through Friday, the outlook forum will feature the release of early supply-demand estimates for the upcoming 2025-26 crop year. The estimates are expected to be negative for corn prices, given the market is signaling a potentially large shift into corn acres by American farmers this spring. The average trade guess for corn planted is 93.5 million acres, versus 90.6 million for 2024. Corn traded to both sides of unchanged before ending just a bit lower. May corn slipped ¾ of a cent to $4.93 ½, and December was down 3 cents at $4.67.
Soybeans were undermined by ideas of a bigger soybean crop in Argentina, with conditions turning much wetter following overly dry weather in parts of January and February. Slow Chinese buying also pressured. The average guess puts new-crop US soybean planted area at 84.4 million acres, down from 87.1 million last year. May beans dropped 7 ½ cents and November was 5 ½ cents lower at $10.45 ½.
Wheat declined on chart selling and weaker Russian and European prices. Ahead of the Outlook Forum, the average trade guess for US all wheat area is 46.7 million acres, versus 46.1 million in 2024. May Chicago wheat dropped 8 cents to $5.79 ¾, May Kansas City lost 7 cents to $5.98 ½, and May Minneapolis was 11 cents lower at $6.17 ¾.
