By Kirk Maltais


-- Wheat for May delivery rose 5.3% to $11.54 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Tuesday following new USDA data showing declining crop conditions for U.S. winter wheat.

-- Corn for May delivery rose 1.3% to $7.58 a bushel.

-- Soybeans for May delivery fell 0.7% to $16.58 3/4 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Withered Condition: A deterioration of U.S. winter wheat conditions provided CBOT wheat with a lift in trading Tuesday. The USDA reported 23% of the Kansas winter wheat crop in good to excellent condition, down from 24% a week earlier.

Conditions in Texas and Colorado are also lower, the USDA said.

The worsening conditions due to drought in the Midwest add to other outside factors that have impacted wheat prices.

"Wheat [is] higher on deteriorating U.S. winter wheat crop conditions, strong global wheat demand and Black Sea supply concerns," said Terry Reilly of Futures International.


Looking Ahead: Although grain export inspections this week and new export sales last week failed to excite grain traders, some are hoping that exports will soon pick up the slack for missing export sales from Ukraine, which helped propel corn futures higher Tuesday.

"Importers are quickly running out of options with South American limited and Black Sea supplies non-existent. The buyers of corn around the world will have to come to the U.S. and as a result we expect to see U.S. exports pick up as we move through the 1st quarter of 2022," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage.


Hands Off: Trading volume of grain futures on the CBOT stayed light throughout the day amid a new round of Covid-19 lockdowns in China as well as the uncertainty surrounding potential talks between Russia and Ukraine.

"Risk reduction has been the theme this week as U.S. interest rates rise and China battles Covid outbreaks as it keeps a 0% tolerance rate," said AgResource.

For grains, trading volume has been on the decline over the past week, reaching a low point Tuesday.


INSIGHTS


Higher Than Expected: The amount of inventories of U.S. soybean oil jumped in February, more than expected by grain traders and analysts. The National Oilseed Processors Association reported Tuesday that there were 2.06 billion pounds of soybean oil stocks in the U.S. in February, up slightly from 2.03 billion pounds in January and up from 1.76 billion pounds at the same time last year.

After being on the rise since December, soyoil futures on the CBOT have stagnated at their current levels, with the most-active contract closing down 0.4% at 73.68 cents per pound.


Fuel Buildup: Inventories of ethanol in the U.S. are expected to grow in the EIA's next report, according to analysts surveyed by Dow Jones this week. They forecast that ethanol stocks will total anywhere from 25.25 million barrels to 25.5 million barrels, versus 25.27 million barrels reported last week.

The uptick in inventories comes as representatives of the biofuel industry push for the Biden administration to support increased ethanol production in an effort to mitigate the effects of Russian oil being banned.

Meanwhile, analysts forecast that daily production will likely inch lower, to anywhere between 1.013 million barrels and 1.035 million barrels versus 1.028 million barrels reported last 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

03-15-22 1556ET