Chicago corn edges higher as traders await key USDA supply outlook

Business Recorder reported that Chicago Board of Trade corn futures ticked up 0.14 per cent to $5.28-1/5 a bushel on Thursday, as traders weighed Black Sea tensions ahead of a key US Department of Agriculture report due Friday. Wheat slipped 0.3 per cent to $7.25-1/4 a bushel, while soybeans held at $13.09 a bushel.

Attention has shifted to the USDA report, where a Reuters poll points to a corn yield of 178.2 bushels per acre for the month. The estimate is expected to show how much the hot, dry summer weather hurt crops in the US Midwest, especially soybeans, and poor yield expectations in the Corn Belt have kept corn prices firm.

Argentina, which ranks third among corn exporters globally, is forecast to load a record 10 million metric tons in August and September. Brazil is seen exporting 5.2 million tons in September, versus 6.98 million a year earlier, according to grain exporters union ANEC. Ukraine struck Novorossiysk, hitting a naval base and an oil loading terminal, President Volodymyr Zelenskiy said, while traders cited unconfirmed reports of damage to grain infrastructure there. Kremlin comments that Russia hopes US-mediated talks restart soon, with Abu Dhabi as its preferred venue, have shifted focus back to diplomacy.