By Kirk Maltais


--Wheat for September delivery rose 2.8% to $6.21 1/4 a bushel Wednesday on the Chicago Board of Trade as the market remains optimistic about Chinese interest in U.S. agricultural exports.

--Corn for September delivery rose 1.7% to $4.29 1/2 a bushel.

--Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.2% to $11.49 1/4 a bushel


HIGHLIGHTS


Trump Weighs: Comments from President Trump at the G7 summit in France stating that a ceasefire agreement between the U.S. and Iran is not final, and that bombing would resume if he doesn't like the deal, led CBOT grain futures to price in the potential for more supply-chain disruptions. "That could be contributing to the small rally," AgMarket.net said in a note. Trump also defended the deal with Iran, which he said could avoid an "economic catastrophe."

Ethanol Output: U.S. ethanol production slipped by 6,000 barrels a day in the week ended June 12 to 1.102 million barrels a day, the Energy Information Administration reported, while stocks of the biofuel inched up by 22,000 barrels to 24.47 million barrels. Estimated corn use for ethanol for the marketing year-to-date is 4.288 billion bushels, 22 million bushels above the previous year's pace but still 47 million bushels below the seasonal pace needed to hit USDA's target, Arlan Suderman of StoneX said in a note. "Longer-term, the ethanol industry continues to look for more demand sources. One of those is the maritime industry."


INSIGHT


China Suspected: The flash notice from the USDA announcing the sale of 372,000 metric tons of U.S. soybeans to unknown destinations fed speculation that China was the purchaser. "China has already committed to substantially increase purchases of U.S. agricultural commodities under the trade framework announced earlier this year," said Jim Wiesemeyer of Ag Bull in a note. "If Beijing intends to meet those commitments, soybean buying may need to accelerate in the coming months."

Rain on the Plain: Rainfall in U.S. growing areas looks to be mostly above average over the next 6-10 days, while temperatures are below normal--suggesting supportive weather for early crop development until the end of the month, according to a forecast from the NOAA's Climate Prediction Center. This kind of weather typically weighs on CBOT grain futures, indicating larger U.S. supplies that have an easier time satisfying domestic and international demand.

Export Estimates: Export sales of U.S. soybeans reported by the USDA for the week ended June 11 are expected to be up from the previous week, according to analysts surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. Soybean export sales forecasts for Thursday's report range from 400,000 metric tons to 850,000 tons versus the previous week's 352,800 tons.


AHEAD


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

--The USDA will release its Cattle on Feed report at noon ET Thursday.

--The USDA and CBOT will be closed in observance of Juneteenth on Friday, reopening on Monday.

--The USDA will release its weekly Grain Export Inspections report at 11 a.m. ET Monday.

--The CFTC will release its weekly Commitment of Traders report at 3:30 p.m. ET Monday.

--The USDA will release its weekly Crop Progress report at 4 p.m. ET Monday.


(Anthony Harrup contributed to this report)

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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

06-17-26 1526ET