By Kirk Maltais


--Wheat for December delivery rose 1.4%, to $5.96 1/2 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade on Wednesday, with traders taking their cues from both yesterday's WASDE report and a recent spurt of fighting between Russia and Ukraine.

--Corn for December delivery rose 1.2%, to $4.82 1/4 a bushel.

--Soybeans for November delivery rose 0.3%, to $13.51 1/4 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


New Round: Wheat led the CBOT for most of the day, propelled in part by a new exchange of hostilities in the Russo-Ukraine war. Today, Ukraine attacked Russian naval ports and vessels, this after Russia has escalated strikes on Ukrainian infrastructure in recent days. After yesterday's WASDE report from the USDA showed a decrease in world production, volatility in the Black Sea is adding fuel to the fire. "Now that USDA confirmed smaller crops for some of the major exporting nations on Tuesday...the trade was again hit with Black Sea headlines that renewed concerns over grain shipments out of the Black Sea," said Terry Reilly of Marex.

Product Placement: Cuts made to soybean oil output in yesterday's WASDE report provided support for those futures today, and also helping to support soybean futures. The USDA cut its outlook for soybean oil production by 115 million pounds to 26.91 billion pounds in the report, also reducing its outlook for global soybean crush. "Soybean oil will continue to be in demand due to profitable margins and increasing biodiesel capacity," said Craig Turner of StoneX in a note.


INSIGHT


Lingering Question: A turnaround in corn futures came as the contract followed wheat higher, as well as reconsideration over the USDA's view of a higher planted and harvested area. "Despite what the USDA said in their report yesterday there are still plenty of analysts, farmers and traders that believe the crop size will be smaller than the USDA indicated, so we would still expect the corn market to bounce around for a while," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage in a note.

Production Push: Average daily production of ethanol in the U.S. jumped for the week ended Sept. 8, with inventory figures falling to their lowest since 2021. In its latest weekly report, the EIA said that average daily production of ethanol came in at 1.039 million barrels a day, up 27,000 barrels a day from the previous week. Meanwhile, inventories fell 450,000 barrels, to 21.17 million barrels. The move in daily production exceeded the outlook of analysts surveyed by Dow Jones, who forecast the average to land anywhere from 1.012 million barrels to 1.027 million barrels. The drop in inventories fell within projections. Ethanol demand may be helpful for corn prices, especially as the corn harvest commences.


AHEAD


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

--The U.S. Drought Monitor will release its updated map 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

09-13-23 1501ET