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USDA’s June World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, out Thursday morning, didn’t carry many major surprises for corn, soybeans or wheat. “But the generally bearish near-term supply picture conveyed by the numbers was enough to keep futures prices trading near the multi-month lows hit during the past two weeks’ selloff,” added Farm Futures senior editor Bruce Blythe, who provided coverage and analysis of today’s report. Keep reading for that, our latest edition of Top Tips and much more!
A wealth of wet weather is coming to parts of the Corn Belt over the weekend, delivering another 1” to 2” or more in a band stretching from Oklahoma through the Great Lakes region between Friday and Monday, per the latest 72-hour cumulative precipitation map from NOAA. Later this month, NOAA’s new 8-to-14-day outlook predicts more seasonally wet conditions for most of the Midwest and Plains between June 18 and June 24, with warmer-than-normal temperatures likely for the southern half of the U.S. during this time.
On Wall St., the Dow jumped 789 points higher in afternoon trading to 50,708 after President Trump cancelled planned strikes against Iran that were set to occur later today. That also sent energy futures spilling lower, with Brent crude oil eroding more than 2.5% lower this afternoon to $90 per barrel. Gasoline futures faced fractional losses. The U.S. Dollar softened slightly.
Corn prices fell back into the red
Traders were served a fresh reminder of ample supplies in today’s WASDE report, which triggered a round of technical selling that left most contracts down 1.5% to 1.75%. September futures lost 7.75 cents to $4.20, with December futures down 7.25 cents to $4.3950.
Corn exports found combined old and new crop sales totaling 75.9 million bushels in the week through June 4. Old crop sales were on the lower end of analyst expectations, while new crop sales topped all trade guesses. Old crop sales improved 13% from the prior week but were down 15% from the prior four-week average.
Corn export shipments were quite similar, with 75.4 million bushels last week. That was also 19% better than the prior four-week average. Mexico, Spain, South Korea, Japan and Colombia were the top five destinations.
In today’s WASDE report, USDA raised 2025-26 corn stocks by 3 million bushels to an estimated 2.145 billion bushels. That’s a seven-year high and bucked trade expectations for a small cut. Meantime, USDA will update its corn and soybean plantings estimates in its June 30 acreage report, which promises to be a key price influencer for the summer.
Grain prices took a beating last week and have seen mixed results so far this week ahead of today’s WASDE report from USDA. But experts for the most part suggest farmers go slow on pricing grain right now. That’s just one small piece of advice in this week’s edition of Top Tips. Click here to read them all!
Corn settlements on Wednesday were for 546,560 contracts.
Soybean prices stumbled moderately lower
USDA lowered its export forecast for the second consecutive month (more on that below), which helped trigger a round of technical selling on Thursday. Spillover weakness from a broad set of other commodities applied additional headwinds today. July futures fell 8 cents to $11.15, with August futures down 7.25 cents to $11.2050.
The rest of the soy complex was also in the red today. July soymeal futures eased fractionally lower, while July soyoil futures shifted nearly 1.25% lower.
Soybean exports gathered 13.0 million bushels in combined old and new crop sales last week. Old crop sales trended 18% below the prior four-week average. Combined sales were on the lower end of analyst estimates. Additionally, USDA reported soymeal sales totaling 426,000 metric tons of soymeal sales and 800 MT of soyoil sales for the week ending June 4.
Soybean export shipments shifted 30% below the prior four-week average, with 15.1 million bushels. Egypt, Japan, Mexico, China and Indonesia were the top five destinations.
USDA held 2025-26 U.S. ending soybean stocks steady at 340 million bushels, with analysts expecting to see a modest cut. And 2026-27 ending stocks also remained unchanged, at 310 million bushels. The agency also lowered soybean exports in the current marketing year for the second consecutive month with a 20-million-bushel drop to 1.51 billion bushels. That will be a 13-year low, if realized.
Soybean settlements on Wednesday were for 330,322 contracts.
Winter wheat prices faced narrowly mixed results
USDA’s prediction that production will fall to the lowest level since the 1960s (more on that below) wasn’t enough to jolt prices higher on Thursday, with traders still factoring harvest pressure into the mix. Unchanged ending stocks was seen as neither bearish nor bullish today. September Chicago SRW futures dropped 1.25 cents to $5.9825, while September Kansas City HRW futures added a penny to reach $6.4125.
Wheat exports have officially rolled into the 2026-27 marketing year, and USDA reported sales totaling 24.5 million bushels of new crop sales plus an additional 11.0 million bushels that were carried over from 2025-26. New crop sales bested the entire range of trade guesses.
Wheat export shipments totaled 15.1 million bushels last week. Mexico, Indonesia, the Philippines, Venezuela and Italy were the top five destinations.
Today, USDA lowered its estimates for 2026-27 winter wheat production by 18 million bushels with a new projection of 1.03 billion bushels. If realized, that would be down almost 27% year-over-year and the smallest total production since 1965. Ending stocks held steady, at 935 million bushels. Analysts were expecting to see that number rise to 942 million bushels.
“When our capital is accumulated from our own labor, we tend to find it precious,” noted Curt Ferguson, an attorney who owns The Estate Planning Center. “The land becomes our source of income. A goose laying golden eggs. What happens when someone receives capital that is not the result of their own labor?” That’s an important question to ask, considering that research shows 85% of wealthy families lose top status within 10 years. How will you prepare your heirs? Ferguson digs into the details in his latest Estate Plan Edge column – click here to learn more.
CBOT wheat settlements on Wednesday were for 188,937 contracts.