Weekly Export Data and Big Chinese Soybean Buys Keep Corn and Soy Markets Cautious
Traders are holding prices steady as fresh export reports and fund moves leave supply and demand uncertain ahead of the August NASS crop report.
Overview
- USDA weekly Export Sales released Thursday showed a marketing‑year low for old‑crop U.S. corn at 116,740 metric tons and new‑crop corn bookings of about 1.027 million metric tons.
- Private exporter notifications reported large soybean purchases by Chinese buyers totaling roughly 360,000 metric tons for 2026/27 in separate 122,000 MT and 238,000 MT filings.
- Brazil’s government data put July exports at 1.943 million metric tons of corn and 13.4 million metric tons of soybeans, reinforcing global supply availability.
- CFTC Commitment of Traders data through Aug. 4 showed speculators cut soybean net longs by about 29,535 contracts while managed‑money modestly increased corn exposure by roughly 13,547 contracts.
- Cash corn traded near $4.09 per bushel and cash soybeans near $11.32 as markets await the August NASS Crop Production report, which Reuters surveys expect to show roughly 182.4 bpa corn and 52.9 bpa soy yields and could reshuffle forward demand and prices.