Soybean Futures Climb as U.S. Crops Get Surveyed — Daily Grain Highlights

By Kirk Maltais

-- Soybeans for January delivery rose 1.9% to $12.31 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Monday, as scouts for the Pro Farmer Crop Tour get into U.S. fields to survey their progress.

-- Corn for December delivery rose 1.2% to $4.89 a bushel.

-- Wheat for December delivery fell 0.1% to 6.89 1/4 a bushel.

HIGHLIGHTS

Mostly Baked: U.S. field crops that were planted this spring and grown this summer are now reaching maturity.

"We turn to the back half of August and for the athletes it's the final few minutes of the game, not much can change from here on out -- what the crops are, they are," said Joe Davis of Futures International.

This week's Pro Farmer Crop Tour will show what these mostly baked crops look like, with the western portion of the tour starting in South Dakota and the eastern side starting from Ohio.

Crush Rate: More soybeans were crushed in the U.S. in July, said the National Oilseed Processors Association.

Crushing came in at a rate of 216.65 million bushels, up from 214.34 million bushels in June.

But it isn't as high as the more-than 221 million bushels traders surveyed by Reuters expected.

Soybean oil is up 2.7%, while underlying soybeans rise 1.9%. Biofuel demand is seen as a major contributor to the higher soybean figures.

Locking In Profits: Wheat futures fell on traders opting to lock in recent profits despite the ongoing conflict in the Black Sea over the weekend.

"More strikes were carried out over the weekend putting into question 'when will the Black Sea re-open?'" said Cory Bratland of AgMarket.net in a note. "Wheat futures are starting out the week a little lower and that is a function of us getting back close to our previous highs and we are seeing a little selling show up."

INSIGHT

Big Pulls: Early pictures of corn ears being pulled in Ohio and South Dakota are generally strong -- with many scouts taking to X under the #pftour26 hashtag to exhibit how fields and corn ears look this morning. Most of the pictured specimens look strong, relatively thick for their age and matured past the pollination stage. This is more evident in the eastern fields, although excessive rain may introduce issues on the east side of the Corn Belt.

Cost Benefit Analysis: U.S. corn typically has the highest demand for fertilizers during its growth process, and the supply chain issues seen this year may have affected how much fertilizer farmers have been able to apply to their fields.

This may be why we see lower corn yields, said AgResource, which now projects the national corn yield at 178 bushels an acre, which would be down 2 bpa from the USDA's August WASDE report.

"It appears that due to high cost and unprofitable production margins, farmers trimmed their nitrogen application rate," said the firm.

Demand Figures: Inspections of U.S. corn export shipments are up from both the prior week and previous year, said the USDA in its latest weekly grain export inspections report. Corn inspections for the week ended Aug. 13 totaled 1.91 million metric tons, up from 1.76 million tons the previous week and higher than 1.05 million tons at this point last year.

AHEAD

-- The second day of the Pro Farmer Midwest Crop Tour, with scouts traveling through eastern Nebraska and eastern Illinois, is scheduled to commence Tuesday.

-- The EIA is due to release its Weekly Petroleum Status Update Report at 10:30 a.m. EDT Wednesday.

-- The USDA is scheduled to release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.

-- The USDA is due to release its monthly Livestock Slaughter Report at 3 p.m. EDT Thursday.

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

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

August 17, 2026 15:46 ET (19:46 GMT)