By Kirk Maltais


--Wheat for March delivery fell 2.1%, to $7.69 1/4 a bushel, on the Chicago Board of Trade on Wednesday, falling amid strength in the U.S. dollar as heightened Russian aggression in Ukraine failed to spur any more buying interest.

--Corn for March delivery fell 0.9% to $6.76 1/4 a bushel.

--Soybeans for March delivery fell 0.8% to $15.25 3/4 a bushel.


HIGHLIGHTS


Broken Momentum: News that Russia has stepped up its efforts in the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, with Moscow now having an estimated 97% of its army deployed in the country according to The Wall Street Journal - is having little effect on wheat futures today. "News that Russia has launched a new offensive in Ukraine provided much of the new support on Monday but there was no real news yesterday about the war to propel futures higher," said Jack Scoville of Price Futures Group in a note.

Brazilian Harvesting Weighs on Grains: Harvesting in Brazil for both corn and soybeans pressured grains across the board today. "Corn and soybeans have been sliding since yesterday morning with the arrow now pointed to the 'Brazilian harvest pressure' side of the South American scale," said Matt Zeller of StoneX in a note. "A dry north and wet south pattern there yesterday was just what the doctor ordered for harvest/fieldwork/moisture supplies." The moving of new crops into Brazil's export market is the main concern for U.S. traders, with prices in the U.S. seen as uncompetitive on a global scale.


INSIGHT


Stepping Up to the Plate: India is one country covering for the shortfall of soymeal exports out of Argentina. Exports of soymeal out of India in the first four months of the 2022/23 marketing year grew 65% to 631,000 tons, according to an Indian soy trade association. The figure nearly matches the amount of soymeal exports out of India in the previous marketing year. This comes as projections for Argentina soymeal exports slide, according to USDA data.

Surging Stocks: U.S. ethanol inventories moved back up this week, surpassing the expectations of analysts and bringing inventories back to their highest level since last April. In its latest weekly report, the U.S. Energy Information Administration said ethanol inventories for the week ended Feb. 10 totaled 25.34 million barrels, up from 24.42 million barrels last week. Analysts surveyed by Dow Jones had forecast inventories at a range of 24 million barrels to 24.85 million barrels.


AHEAD


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

--Deere & Co. will release its first-quarter 2023 earnings report on 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

02-15-23 1541ET