By Kirk Maltais
-- Wheat for December delivery rose 0.7% to $7.33 1/2 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday, ending a selloff in wheat futures seen last week as traders take the opportunity to buy back into futures.
-- Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.2% to $12.92 3/4 a bushel.
-- Corn for December delivery fell 0.3% to $5.35 1/2 a bushel.
HIGHLIGHTS
The Boys Are Back: After fund traders liquidated some of their positions in grains last week amid mixed results reported from the Pro Farmer Crop Tour, buyers are returning to grains Monday.
"It is risk on in the Ag space this morning," said Robert Yawger of Mizuho Securities USA. According to traders, selling seen last week was overdone, causing many traders to return to buying Monday.
Underwhelming: A flash sale of U.S. corn to Mexico announced by the USDA Monday morning totaling 458,600 metric tons has done little to spark corn futures in trading Monday.
"The trade was largely unimpressed," said Arlan Suderman of StoneX. "Corn prices have traded both sides of unchanged with weakness related to a trade belief that the crop 'is made.'"
Also affecting futures Monday are expectations that the crop progress report from the USDA, which comes out at 4 p.m. EDT, will show another drop in crop conditions.
INSIGHT
Not So Great Mandate: Reports that the EPA will propose 2021 blending mandates for biofuels below 2020 levels also pressured CBOT corn futures. According to a story from Reuters, the EPA is expected to propose lower mandates in reaction to Covid-19 sapping demand for motor fuel.
However, the agency is also expected to raise its blending mandates for 2022.
Last week, the USDA reported that it would invest $26 million into building new infrastructure to help expand the availability of renewable fuels nationwide.
Volatile Voyage: The unseasonable temperatures seen in areas throughout the world are knocking economists off course in their price forecasting, said Caroline Bain of Capital Economics. "Prices have been highly volatile this year, at least in part owing to unseasonal weather, and this may become a permanent feature of commodities markets," she said, adding that weather conditions in different parts of the world are affecting both supply and demand for agricultural commodities as well as metals and energy-related commodities.
Chinese Interest: Inspections of U.S. wheat exports are up from both last week and this time last year, according to the USDA, driven largely by inspections for wheat destined for China. For the week ended Aug. 19, wheat export inspections totaled 657,854 metric tons, up from 560,640 tons in last week's report. Inspections of wheat destined for China totaled 169,541 tons, making China the leading destination in this week's report.
The Philippines, Korea and Mexico were other leading destinations for the week.
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
08-23-21 1532ET
