By Kirk Maltais


--Wheat for July delivery fell 2.3%, to $6.57 3/4 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade on Monday, with fund traders continuing to sell wheat futures despite cold weather in growing areas over the weekend and uncertainty in the Black Sea.

--Corn for July delivery fell 1.2%, to $6.07 3/4 a bushel.

--Soybeans for July delivery fell 1%, to $14.35 1/4 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Shake It Off: Fund traders seemed bent on selling wheat futures today, despite geopolitical and weather factors adding uncertainty to the global supply and demand picture. In the U.S., below-freezing temperatures over the weekend look to have created some new crop damage, said Brian Splitt of AgMarket.net. Continuing threats from Russia to leave the Black Sea Grain Initiative also didn't seem to affect futures. "Today's performance shows the fund manager's intent to continue to sell rallies in wheat," said Mr. Splitt.

Stepping Backwards: The USDA announced this morning that China has canceled 327,000 metric tons of U.S. corn that were set to be delivered in the 2022/23 marketing year. The cancellation comes as traders grapple with the apparent weakness in export demand for corn, this despite prices being seen as competitive on the world market. As a result, corn futures were under pressure for today's session.


INSIGHT


Scale of Importance: Anticipation of rainfall in many U.S. growing areas--which may keep farmers out of their fields this week--didn't provide much support for CBOT grain futures. "Traders do not seem to be concerned about planting progress at this point and this is reflected in this morning's losses," said Donna Hughes of StoneX in a note this morning, referencing corn specifically. The rain is also providing much-needed moisture for wheat, where lingering drought in the Southern Plains is affecting winter crop conditions and the speed of new-crop planting. The USDA will update its planting progress and crop quality data in its next Crop Progress report this afternoon.

Fuel for the Fire: Adding to the sentiment of weak demand on the export market for U.S. corn was weak export inspections reported by the USDA. In its latest grain export inspections report, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said that corn export inspections for the week ended April 20 totaled 913,813 metric tons, down from 1.24 million tons reported the previous week. Soybean inspections totaled 374,960 tons, down from 530,342 tons last week, and wheat inspections rose to 363,826 tons from last week's 252,481 tons. The combined inspections of the three row crops were the lowest total since the third week of the 2022/23 marketing year, says Terry Reilly of Futures International.


AHEAD


--Bunge Ltd. will release its first quarter earnings report on Wednesday.

--Pilgrim's Pride Corp. will release its first quarter earnings report on Wednesday.

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


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-24-23 1512ET