US wheat, corn and soyabean futures were modestly higher on Wednesday as traders awaited key supply/demand reports due from the US Department of Agriculture on Thursday. The reports will include the USDA's first assessments of the 2017 US corn and soyabean crops based on field surveys, and analysts expect the government to lower its yield forecasts for both crops.
The USDA's current yield forecast for corn, based on historical trends, is 170.7 bushels per acre (bpa), while the average estimate among analysts surveyed by Reuters was 166.2 bpa. For soyabeans, the average analyst estimate of the US yield was 47.5 bpa, compared with the USDA's trend-based forecast of 48.0 bpa.
As of 12:37 pm CDT (1737 GMT), Chicago Board of Trade December corn was up 1-1/4 cents at $3.85 per bushel and September wheat was up 2-1/2 cents at $4.59-1/2 a bushel. CBOT November soyabeans were up 2-1/4 cents at $9.75-1/2 a bushel. Soyabean futures were briefly pressured after the USDA said private exporters cancelled a sale of 130,000 tonnes of US old-crop soyabeans to unknown destinations.
CBOT wheat drew support from strength in Minneapolis Grain Exchange spring wheat futures, which firmed on continued worries about drought curbing spring wheat yields in the northern US Plains and Canada. MGEX September spring wheat was up 8 cents at $7.39-1/4 a bushel after reaching $7.40, its highest since July 31. Analysts expect the USDA on Thursday to lower its forecast of US all-wheat production, with the biggest declines seen for high-protein spring wheat.
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