Grain Futures Hold Mid‑March Rally on Strong U.S. Sales and Energy Tailwinds

Overview

• USDA Export Sales showed 1.53 MMT of old-crop corn and 456,740 MT of old-crop soybeans sold for the week ending March 5, with wheat weekly sales at 455,439 MT and total wheat commitments at 23.663 MMT, up 11% from last year.
• EIA reported ethanol production rising to 1.126 million barrels per day with a 757,000‑barrel stock draw, while crude oil rallied this week, reinforcing biofuel-linked support for corn and oilseeds.
• The latest WASDE left the U.S. corn balance sheet unchanged and lifted world ending stocks after raising Brazil and Ukraine output and trimming Argentina.
• Futures on Friday showed corn up 1 to 4 cents and wheat up 12 to 20 cents at midday, while soybeans eased slightly after Thursday’s double‑digit advance.
• Cargill paused Brazil‑to‑China soybean shipments following tighter Chinese sanitary inspections, and a reportedly leaked EPA RVO near 5.4 billion gallons earlier buoyed soybean oil prices.