By Kirk Maltais

--Soybeans for November delivery fell 0.9%, to $12.84 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade on Friday, generally unmoved by farmers beginning to harvest soybeans and China heading into a holiday.

--Wheat for December delivery fell 0.6%, to $7.08 3/4 a bushel.

--Corn for December delivery fell 0.4%, to $5.27 1/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Playing it Safe: Traders were tentative today, keeping an eye on farmers harvesting their crops. "The trade focus for the next few weeks will be on combine results as the trade tries to figure out if the U.S. yield is as good as the USDA has been indicating," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage. According to the USDA's most recent crop progress report, 4% of the U.S. corn crop has been harvested so far.

On Holiday: China's Mid-Autumn Festival, which takes place on Tuesday, has China entering a long weekend--meaning that export purchasing activity has halted until the festival concludes, said Charlie Sernatinger of ED&F Man Capital. "Add in a little harvest hedging, and you get a down day," he said. News coming from US farmers harvesting their fields is also not currently moving soybean futures. "Early bean yields are starting to trickle in, and no one seems to be impressed or depressed," said Mr. Sernatinger.

INSIGHTS

Sales Streak: For the second consecutive day, the USDA has confirmed a flash sale of U.S. soybean exports to China--with 132,000 metric tons sold for delivery in the 2021/22 marketing year. 132,000 tons were sold to China yesterday as well. However, the new streak of export sales to China didn't appear to boost CBOT soybean futures today. "While I am certainly not complaining about the activity, but these sales have become pretty routine, and dare I say, there would be more disappointment if they did not show up, than excitement when they do," said Dan Hueber of the Hueber Report.

Choppy Seas: Wheat futures trading on the CBOT are expected to be volatile in the coming days--with traders trying to figure out what world supply will look like amid various projections. "The market is still adjusting for lower Russian production and poor quality wheat in Europe, but the big crop in Australia may offset some of the bullishness from disappointing northern hemisphere crops," said Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives.

AHEAD:

--The USDA will release its weekly export inspections report at 11 a.m. ET Monday.

--The USDA will release its weekly crop progress report at 4 p.m. ET Monday.

--General Mills Inc. will release its fiscal first quarter earnings before the stock market opens on Wednesday.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

09-17-21 1511ET