By Kirk Maltais

--Corn for December delivery rose 1.2% to $5.39 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Wednesday as traders positioned their funds ahead of Thursday's quarterly grain stocks report.

--Wheat for December delivery rose 0.6% to $7.10 1/4 a bushel.

--Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.5% to $12.83 3/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Final Positions: Grain futures were higher Wednesday with traders getting themselves in position ahead of the USDA's quarterly grain stocks report due out tomorrow at noon eastern time. "Nearly all estimates are for smaller stocks than a year ago, the question being how much smaller," said Karl Setzer of AgriVisor. "It is not out of the question we could see smaller inventories of corn, soybeans, and wheat, yet a neutral to bearish report if stocks are surprisingly high."

Prepare For Battle: Also providing a lift for grain futures today was a trader focus on global burgeoning demand. "International and minor ag markets continue to provide bullish guidance for US corn, wheat and soybeans," said AgResource. "It's clear an intense battle for acreage lies ahead - in the U.S. and elsewhere - and this makes coming USDA data all the more important."

INSIGHTS

Fertilizer Frenzy: The cost for fertilizer is at its highest level since 2008 at nearly $900 per short ton. That has farmers concerned about higher input costs going into the next crop year. The uptick comes amid news that China is halting its exports of phosphate through next year - while prices for other fertilizer ingredients are well up from this time last year. "The talk is turning to the new crop, where soaring natural gas prices have fertilizer costs through the roof, which means that costs of planting are going up for corn, and the implication is that it will shift some undetermined amount of acres over to beans," said Charlie Sernatinger of ED&F Man Capital.

Analysts Surprised: After snapping a seven-week decline last week, U.S. ethanol inventories are climbing again, according to EIA data. In its weekly report it said U.S. ethanol stockpiles totaled 20.22 million barrels for the week ended September 24, up 109,000 barrels from last week. The increase defied the expectations of analysts surveyed by Dow Jones this week - who had forecast stockpiles to fall to as low as 19.96 million barrels. Meanwhile, daily ethanol production fell 12,000 barrels per day to 914,000 barrels. Analysts had expected an uptick in ethanol production to as high as 946,000 barrels per day.

Rally Ahead: U.S. corn export sales are expected to rally in this weeks' report, according to grain traders surveyed by The Wall Street Journal. Traders forecast that corn export sales will total from 400,000 metric tons to 1.1 million tons for the week ended September 23. That's up from 373,000 tons reported last week. Meanwhile, soybean and wheat sales are expected to land close to last week's figures, according to traders.

AHEAD:

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

--The USDA will release its quarterly grains stocks report at noon ET Thursday.

--The USDA will release its monthly agricultural prices report at 3 p.m. ET Thursday.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-29-21 1536ET