By Kirk Maltais


--Wheat for March delivery rose 3.7% to $7.69 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade Tuesday as tensions emanating from Russia's troop buildup at the Ukraine border led to a wave of short-covering by grain traders.

--Corn for March delivery rose 0.6% to $5.99 1/2 a bushel.

--Soybeans for March delivery fell 0.6% to $13.61 1/4 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Tensions Rising: After four rounds of talks failed to narrow the gap between Moscow and Western nations regarding Russia's buildup of troops and military equipment at the Ukraine border, wheat futures rose in trading Tuesday. This, along with dry weather hurting winter wheat crops in the U.S. plains provided support for wheat, leading funds to engage in strong short-covering. "The truth is, the market was begging for some short covering," said Charlie Sernatinger of ED&F Man Capital.

Good Soak: Wetter weather in South American growing regions put pressure on CBOT corn and soybean futures Tuesday. "The weather forecast in South America looks a little better than it did on Friday, so markets are setting back a bit," said Tomm Pfitzenmaier of Summit Commodity Brokerage. Mr. Pfitzenmaier adds that weakness in overall macro markets today also contributed to the pressure seen on these futures - with the U.S. dollar index on the Intercontinental Exchange climbing again Tuesday.


INSIGHTS


Ravenous Demand: Soybeans crushed in the U.S. hit a higher-than-expected rate in December, according to the National Oilseed Processors Association. In its latest report, NOPA said that soybeans were crushed at a rate of 186.4 million bushels. This is 1.4 million bushels more than expected by traders, said Terry Reilly of Futures International. It's also up from the previous month's rate, as well as 183.2 million bushels at this time last year. "We see this report bearish for [soybean oil] and supportive for soybeans," said Mr. Reilly.

Faster Pace: Inspections of U.S. soybean exports have nearly doubled from the previous week, according to USDA data. In its latest weekly report, the USDA said soybean inspections for the week ended Jan. 13 totaled 1.72 million metric tons, up from 985,455 tons reported last week but down from 2.32 million tons reported at this time last year. Shipments to China comprised a large portion of this week's inspections for soybeans - with 868,727 tons being reported by the USDA. Inspections for U.S. corn and wheat were also higher for the week.


AHEAD:


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

-The USDA will release its monthly livestock slaughter report at 3 p.m. ET Thursday.

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

-The USDA will release its monthly Cattle on Feed report at 3 p.m. ET Friday.

--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

01-18-22 1551ET