By Kirk Maltais


--Wheat for May delivery fell 1.7%, to $7.50 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade on Wednesday, with Russian exports seen undercutting global wheat export prices.

--Corn for May delivery fell 0.9% to $6.74 1/4 a bushel.

--Soybeans for May delivery fell 0.6% to $15.34 3/4 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


On the Cheap: Bogging down U.S. wheat prices is cheap competition from Russia - with an Egyptian tender showing Russia as the cheapest offer at $317.50 a ton. "Global wheat offers continue to just bleed lower," said John Payne of Hedgepoint Global in a note. The market continued today to shrug off statements from Russian President Vladimir Putin regarding exiting its nuclear treaty with the U.S. ahead of the next renewal of the Black Sea Grain Initiative.

Big Picture: As is the case for most commodities today, macro market weakness weighed on grains today. "[I'm] seeing macro markets exerting the biggest influence with Treasury yields at their highest levels since November and stock markets taking their biggest beating yesterday in two months," Joel Karlin of Ocean State Research told the WSJ. The idea that the Federal Reserve may keep interest rates higher for longer is dragging on commodities across the board, with traders believing that prolonged high interest rates will squash commodity demand.


INSIGHT


Back to Business: With Brazil's Carnival holiday ending today, traders looked towards the country to see how it resumes business - particularly with soybeans. Traders are debating whether or not strong crops in Brazil will offset issues in Argentina, and if Brazilian exports will continue to displace American exports for market share in places like China.

Climbing Inventories: Stocks of ethanol peeked over the 25 million barrels mark last week, with the total landing at 25.34 million barrels. However, if the higher-end of analyst estimates comes true, then stocks may climb further to up over 26 million barrels. If so, that would be the first time since March 2022 they've done so, according to data from the EIA. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones this week forecast daily production to land anywhere from 1.01 million barrels a day to 1.028 million barrels a day, with stocks anywhere between 24.98 million barrels and 26.3 million barrels.


AHEAD


--The USDA will begin its Agricultural Outlook Forum at 8 a.m. ET Thursday.

--Beyond Meat Inc. will release its fourth-quarter earnings report on Thursday.

--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.


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


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

02-22-23 1521ET