Corn and wheat futures ended lower on Thursday as weekly export sales fell below expectations. Soybeans also fell.
Short covering helped to boost corn early in the day, with added support coming from the announcement of a private export sale of 115,000 tonnes to Mexico. However, the USDA’s weekly export sales report showed bookings of 2024-25 US corn for the week ended Sept. 19 at just 535,056 tonnes, down 37% on the week and below trade estimates. December corn fell 2 cents to $4.13 ¼, and March lost 2 ¼ cents at $4.31.
Wheat started the day higher on dry forecasts for Russia and the US southern Plains, but also ended up drifting lower. All wheat 2024-25 export sales came in at a marketing year low of 158,938 tonnes, below the low end of trade estimates that ranged from 200,000 to 600,000 tonnes.
Soybeans declined on harvest pressure and profit taking. Weekly export sales were reported at 1.574 million tonnes, up sharply from the same week last year and in the middle of trade guesses. November beans lost 12 ¼ cents to $10.41, and January dropped 12 ½ cents tro $10.59 ¼.
