By Kirk Maltais


-- Wheat for December delivery rose 0.9% to $5.62 1/4 a bushel on the Chicago Board of Trade on Wednesday as analysts and traders anticipate China buying more wheat exports.

-- Soybeans for January delivery rose 0.5% to $13.16 1/4 a bushel.

-- Corn for December delivery fell 0.7% to $4.76 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Need for Wheat: China's buying of wheat exports on the world market -- from varying sources including the U.S. -- provided CBOT wheat with a lift.

"China continues to be an active buyer of wheat on the global market after rains during harvest diminished the quality of the Chinese wheat crop," said Doug Bergman of RCM Alternatives in a note.

If China has a larger-than-usual need for wheat exports as the marketing year progresses, it may ramp up the demand side of the market.


Unsure Direction: CBOT grains were mixed overall in Wednesday's session.

"The choppiness of recent weeks continues with neither the bears nor the bulls able to sustain a trend in their favor," said Daniel Flynn of Price Futures Group in a note. He adds that while U.S. crops appear to have optimal weather for harvesting in most areas, Brazilian weather isn't supporting planting as strongly there. Some areas are too dry and others too wet.

"Although it's early in the Brazilian crop cycle, the pattern needs to change by mid-November or Brazilian corn and soybean crop production estimates will begin to decline," Flynn said.


INSIGHT


Forecast Cut: Agricultural research firm SovEcon reduced its outlook for Russian wheat exports in the 2023-24 marketing year, the first time in this marketing year that the outlook has been cut, the firm said. Russian wheat exports are projected at 48.8 million metric tons for the year, down 400,000 tons from the firm's previous projection.

An attempted price floor is seen as the reason behind the shift, SovEcon said. "The decline in sales might be due to government attempts to regulate wheat prices."


Two-Year Low: U.S. stocks of ethanol have fallen to their lowest level in nearly two years, according to the latest EIA data. The EIA said ethanol inventories fell 386,000 barrels to 21.01 million barrels for the week ended Oct. 27, according to its latest weekly report.

That is the lowest they have been since late December 2021, which is the last time they fell under the 21-million barrel threshold.

The EIA pegged average ethanol production at 1.052 million barrels a day, up from 1.04 million barrels a day in last week's report.


Watch the Water: Fertilizer prices could head higher if the Mississippi River doesn't get enough precipitation this winter, Mark Milam of ICIS said. Low water levels limiting fertilizer-carrying barges this past marketing year could be repeated. Rainfall would be better than snow to replenish the river, he said.

Other factors that could contribute to higher fertilizer prices include U.S. farmers opting to plant more soybeans and less corn in the upcoming season, which would decrease the need for nitrogen-based fertilizers.


AHEAD


-- Zoetis is scheduled to release its third-quarter earnings report at 7 a.m. EDT Thursday.

-- The USDA is due to release its weekly export sales report at 8:30 a.m. EDT Thursday.


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

11-01-23 1546ET