Wheat Ticks Up After Export Sales Surprise — Daily Grain Highlights

By Anthony Harrup

--Wheat for December delivery settled up 0.8% Thursday on the Chicago Board of Trade at $6.03 3/4 a bushel as strong weekly export sales suggest prices may have fallen enough to generate demand.

--Soybeans for November delivery fell 0.4% to $12.19 3/4 a bushel.

--Corn for December delivery slipped 0.1% to $4.51 1/4 a bushel.

Nascent Demand: Wheat futures turned higher after the USDA reported export sales last week at a marketing-year high. The slide in wheat had carried the December contract to settle under $6 a bushel Wednesday, with recent weakness fueled by plans for Russia-Ukraine peace talks. The massive move down in wheat is "finally finding some demand," Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives said in a note.

Ready to Roll: Soybean futures fell for a fourth straight session ahead of the first notice day for the November contract on Friday, when long position holders could face potential physical deliveries. "Traders will be busy rolling their November positions or getting out of them," Cory Bratland of AgMarket.net said in a note. "I think once we get rolled to the January contract, I would look for the soybean spreads to start to firm up a bit."

Solid Sales: Export sales for last week were strong, with wheat beating expectations, soybeans landing at the high end of estimates and corn in the middle of the range of forecasts in a Wall Street Journal survey of analysts. Wheat export sales for the 2026/27 marketing year were 849,800 metric tons, plus 22,000 tons for 2027/28. Corn sales were 1.3 million tons and soybean sales 2.58 million tons, the USDA reported.

Hard to Say: The grains market is struggling to find a floor after two months of declines. "Everyone has been talking about picking bottoms this week, and each time they have gotten blown out of the water," Charlie Sernatinger of Marex said in a note.

Bottom pickers need an indication that traders have given up hope of a rally as a signal for a corrective up move, he added. "Even then, we are talking about a correction, not an uptrend, with the overwhelming discretionary attitude being the desire to sell a rally."

Catching Up: Russia's winter grain planting has almost caught up with last year's pace on accelerated planting in the south, agriculture consultancy SovEcon said in a note. Farmers had planted 14.9 million hectares (36.8 million acres) as of Oct. 23, which was 1% below last year at this time. Two weeks earlier, planting had a lag of 10%, the firm said.

SovEcon expects final planted area could be a little below last year.

"Planting risks have eased, but weak farm economics could still weigh on the 2027 crop through lower input use, which could make yields more vulnerable to weather," the firm said.

AHEAD

-Cboe Global Markets will release its 3Q 2026 earnings report at 7:30 a.m. ET Friday.

-The USDA will release its monthly Agricultural Prices report at 3 p.m. ET Friday.

-The CFTC will release its weekly Commitment of Traders report at 3:30 p.m. ET Friday.

-The USDA will release its weekly Grain Export Inspections report at 11 a.m. ET Monday.

-The USDA will release its monthly Grain Crushings report at 3 p.m. ET Monday.

-The USDA will release its monthly Oilseed Crushings report at 3 p.m. ET Monday.

-The USDA will release its weekly Crop Progress report at 4 p.m. ET Monday.

Write to Anthony Harrup at anthony.harrup@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

October 29, 2026 15:18 ET (19:18 GMT)