By Kirk Maltais
-- Wheat for December delivery rose 3.2% to $7.97 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday, with money flowing into agriculture as Egypt sought more wheat for purchase.
-- Corn for December delivery rose 1.9% to $5.79 a bushel.
-- Soybeans for November delivery fell 0.1% to $12.48 1/2 a bushel.
HIGHLIGHTS
Looking to Buy: Wheat futures led the CBOT higher Monday. Helping spur the uptick to start the week is a new tender from Egypt's grains buying authority, which is seeking an unspecified amount of wheat for delivery in December.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Egypt has received seven bids in the tender, five of which were for wheat of Russian origin and two for Romanian wheat.
Last week, the country purchased 180,000 tons of wheat from Russia, 120,000 tons from Ukraine and 60,000 tons from Romania.
Egypt is the world's largest wheat importer and purchases are seen as a guide to setting benchmark prices.
New Money Flow: Support for corn and wheat futures Monday comes from a fresh wave of interest from investors at the top of the month.
"It is the beginning of the month and new money is coming into the market," said Craig Turner of Daniels Trading. "The theme of all these charts is a combination of inflation, strong demand and short supply."
In Friday's Commitments of Traders report from the CFTC, for the week ended Oct. 26 managed money investors generally closed short positions in grain futures, while opening new long positions.
Corn Buoyed by Energy Strength: Strength in energy prices was supportive for corn futures Monday. Crude oil closed 0.6% higher, while natural-gas prices finished 4% lower.
"Corn continues to add value from harvest lows, driven by strength of the wheat market, uncertainty over 2022 acres, and strong ethanol margins," said Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives. "The trend is higher, but there is a tendency to see some seasonal weakness after we get into the month of November."
INSIGHTS
Limited Availability: Not only are prices for fertilizer much higher than last year, farmers say that they are having difficulty being able to purchase any at all because of delays and issues with the global supply chain.
According to John Dittrich, a farmer in Tilden, Neb., prices keep rising and suppliers are having issues keeping up. "I'm not even sure I could get a price today," he said.
Mr. Dittrich adds that he has booked all of his fertilizer needs for 2022 already, with his cost for nitrogen fertilizer being triple what he paid last year and phosphate fertilizer costing double.
However, for farmers that have yet to book, prices keep rising and available supply looks scarce.
Strong Showing: Inspections of U.S. soybean exports fell slightly from the prior week, but are still high according to the USDA. In its latest weekly grain export inspections report, the agency said that inspections of soybeans totaled 2.27 million metric tons for the week ended Oct. 28, which is down slightly from the previous week's total.
China continues to be the main destination for U.S. soybeans, totaling 1.43 million tons for the week. Other leading destinations were Mexico, Italy, Egypt and Japan.
Meanwhile, corn and wheat export inspections fell below last week, totaling 619,340 tons and 115,341 tons, respectively.
AHEAD
-- The EIA is scheduled to release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday.
-- The USDA is due to release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.
-- The CFTC is scheduled to release its weekly commitments of traders report at 3:30 p.m. EDT Friday.
Write to Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
11-01-21 1540ET
