Corn and soybean futures posted small gains in a shortened trading session Thursday ahead of slew of USDA reports to be released tomorrow at noon ET. Wheat closed lower.
Wheat was mainly undermined by improving moisture conditions with the arrival of snow in parts of the US southern Plains and Russia. The snow has also provided the US crop with protection against cold temperatures, and that will likely continue to be the case through the next 10 days or so. The recent precipitation also sets the stage for improved Black Sea region crop conditions in the early spring, though more precipitation is still needed, especially from Ukraine into Kazakhstan.
For tomorrow’s USDA winter wheat seedings report, the average trade guess puts US winter wheat planted area for harvest in 2025 at 33.4 million acres, little changed from 2024. US wheat ending stocks for 2024-25 are seen down slightly from December, while American stocks of all wheat as of Dec. 1 are expected at 1.565 billion bu, up from 1.421 billion last year.
March Chicago wheat was down 2 ¼ cents at $5.34, March Kansas City was steady at $5.50 1/4, and March Minneapolis fell 1 1/2 cents to $5.83 1/2.
Pre-report positioning ahead of the USDA reports boosted corn and soybeans. Trade guesses ahead of the reports suggest downward revisions for yields, production, and ending stocks compared to December for both crops. The average trade guess for Dec. 1 corn stocks is 12.147 billion bu, down slightly from 12.171 billion last year. Soybean stocks as of Dec. 1 are seen higher at 3.231 billion bu, versus 3.001 billion a year ago.
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