Overview
- Futures swung lower Thursday midday, with soybeans off 30 to 44 cents, Kansas City hard red winter wheat down about 22 cents, and corn weaker by up to 15 cents as May contracts expired.
- USDA’s May report slashed U.S. winter wheat output by 25% to 1.048 billion bushels and pegged U.S. wheat ending stocks at 762 million bushels, while the world crop fell to 819.1 million tons from last year’s record.
- Crop checks reinforced the cuts as the Kansas Wheat Quality Tour reported a 39.3 bpa average on day two and USDA rated about 40% of winter wheat poor or very poor after drought and freeze damage.
- Soyoil and soymeal fell with beans after a Trump–Xi meeting produced few details despite a USDA-confirmed private sale of 252,000 metric tons, and weekly soybean export sales dropped to a marketing‑year low of 102,059 metric tons.
- Corn faced added pressure from soft U.S. export sales at 684,786 metric tons and larger South American crop estimates from Brazil’s CONAB and Argentina’s Rosario exchange.
- Traders are watching the Kansas tour’s final average due later Thursday for a fresh read on yield losses that could guide wheat pricing into next week.