By Kirk Maltais 



  -- Wheat for September delivery rose 0.8% to $4.95 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Tuesday, in reaction to Egypt buying a new tender of Russian wheat and ahead of Wednesday's WASDE report from the USDA. 


  --Corn for December delivery rose 0.2% to $3.23 1/2 a bushel. 


  --Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.1% to $8.73 1/2 a bushel. 


  HIGHLIGHTS 


  Loading Up: Egypt's state import agency, the General Authority for Supply Commodities, bought 120,000 metric tons of Russian wheat at an international tender on Tuesday. The purchase comprised two 60,000 ton cargos each costing $205.50 a ton with an additional $14.10 a ton for freight costs. Price movement for wheat was partially in reaction to Egypt's buying, but otherwise traders were positioning themselves ahead of tomorrow's WASDE report. "This is coming down to the report tomorrow, and how the spec is set up," said Charlie Sernatinger of ED&F Man Capital. 


  Brace Yourselves: Tomorrow's WASDE is expected to show higher bushels-per-acre yields for corn and soybeans. "Big yields and big crops are expected on Wednesday with the Midwest harvest starting in just 4-5 weeks," said AgResource. If yields exceed trader expectations, then futures will likely plunge -- as these higher yields would "swamp existing Chinese demand," said the firm. 


  Quality Decline: A slight decline in crop quality reported by the USDA late Monday supported futures Tuesday. The USDA this week says that 71% of the U.S. corn crop is in good or excellent condition, down from 72% last week. While the decline had corn futures up this morning, grain traders don't expect the uptick to last. "Even with a slight decline on corn, these ratings are some of the highest in history for this time of year," said Karl Setzer of AgriVisor. "These ratings are also why most traders think the crops will be larger than previously thought in tomorrow's WASDE report." Soybean crop ratings rose to 74% this week. 


  INSIGHTS 


  Storm Gusts: Hurricane force winds affecting crop-growing areas from Ohio to South Dakota have likely made a sizable impact on crops grown in the Midwest - specifically corn, which is more likely to suffer from being broken in the winds than other crops like soybeans. However, how large an impact the winds have had on what would otherwise be an ample 2020 corn crop remains to be seen. "The question is how much of an impact, which is very hard to assess at this point," said Scott Irwin of the University of Illinois. Currently, Irwin estimates that the storms have shaved off 100 million to 300 million bushels of corn production in the US in 2020 - a pittance when compared to the 15 billion bushels expected to be produced in 2020. 


  Keeping Pace: 132,000 metric tons of soybeans have been sold to China for delivery in the 2020/21 marketing year, the USDA says. That makes it 720,000 tons of soybeans sold to China this week alone. Even so, grains traders are maintaining a skeptical outlook on soybean futures, waiting for this weekend's virtual meeting between the U.S. and China to ascertain if China plans to meet its buying obligations under the phase one trade agreement. "Beans are in a downtrend as the crop is well-watered and production ideas are growing," said Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives. 


  AHEAD: 


  --The EIA releases its weekly update on ethanol production and inventories at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday. 


  --The USDA releases its monthly WASDE report at noon ET Wednesday. 


  --The USDA will release its latest weekly export sales numbers at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday. 


  Will Horner contributed to this article. 


  Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com