By Kirk Maltais


--Wheat for March delivery rose 2.7% to $5.45 3/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, as traders contemplated the effect of higher corn and soybeans prices and how that may direct feedgrain demand to wheat.

--Soybeans for March delivery rose 2.6% to $10.52 1/4 a bushel.

--Corn for March delivery rose 1.1% to $4.76 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Playing Catch-Up: Even though wheat production was left unchanged in the USDA's WASDE report Friday, wheat took the lead in trading Monday. "Wheat is playing catch-up today after corn's big day on Friday and continued strength today," said Brady Huck of Advance Trading. "Tighter than anticipated corn stocks support the idea that wheat could start to make its way into more feeding rations."

Increasingly Scrutinized: Monitoring for weather in southern growing areas has become more important for grain traders following Friday's WASDE report showed smaller stocks and production from the U.S. and elsewhere - particularly for corn, said Daniel Flynn of Price Futures Group in a note. "The world corn market is not abundantly supplied, and there is a need for the return of rain in Argentina and trend/above trend safrinha yields in Brazil spring/summer," said Flynn. He adds that rainfall in late January will be key in determining crop sizes from there.


INSIGHT


Hiccups Preparation: Rallying seen in futures in recent sessions may run into resistance soon, said Donna Hughes of StoneX. "[We] may see some downside to all of this before the end of the week, with Trump's inauguration on Monday and tariff uncertainties loom," Hughes said. On the export side, China appears to be loading up on imports ahead of Trump assuming office, due to his rhetoric about a renewed trade war and fresh tariffs on imports to the U.S., which would likely spur retaliatory tariffs from China.

Soil Moisture Snowfall: Snowfall seen in the center of the country amid subzero temperatures in some areas is a net positive for the wheat fields in the region - and by extension, for the other crops that will be planted this spring. "There is… a different level of appreciation of snow's value on the farm as it is the moisture we need for the coming crop year in a convenient, slow-release form." said Jackie Mundt, a farmer with the Kansas Farm Bureau. Soil moisture heading into the spring is among the top focuses for farmers preparing for planting starting in April.

Big Jump: Export inspections of U.S. corn jumped from the previous week, the USDA said Monday. The USDA said that export inspections of corn for the week ended Jan. 13 totaled 1.44 million metric tons - up 64% from the previous week's figure of 877,214 tons. This week's figure is also well up from 956,300 tons at this time last year. Soybean inspections were also higher, although not to the same degree as corn. Inspections totaled 1.35 million tons for the week, up from 1.3 million tons the previous week and 1.28 million tons at this time last year. Wheat inspections fell, dropping to 288,895 tons for the week versus 412,342 tons the week previous. They were higher than this time last year though, with inspections then totaling 242,409 tons.


AHEAD


--The EIA will release its weekly ethanol production and stocks report at 10:30 a.m. ET Wednesday.

--The USDA will release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. ET Thursday.

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


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

01-13-25 1539ET