Chicago corn rises on mixed yield prospects across US Midwest

BEIJING: Chicago corn futures rose on Thursday as an industry field tour highlighted mixed yield prospects across the US Midwest, while soybeans and wheat fell.

The most-active corn contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) gained 0.4% to $5.00 a bushel by 0221 GMT. Soybeans lost 0.2% to $12.35 a bushel and wheat fell 0.1% to $6.96-3/4 a bushel.

Traders are closely watching reports from the Pro Farmer field tour after the US Department of Agriculture (USDA) cut its corn and soybean yield forecasts last week.

Corn yield potential and soybean pod counts across western Iowa are down from last year but remain near or above three-year averages, Pro Farmer scouts said on Wednesday.

On the third day of a four-day, seven-state event, Pro Farmer scouts projected the average corn yield for Illinois, the No. 2 US corn state, at 184.19 bushels per acre, below the 2025 crop tour average of 199.57 bpa and the tour’s three-year average of 199.15.

In Nebraska, crops on some fields lacking irrigation appeared stunted and thin, tour scouts said.

Most of the state’s corn is irrigated and in better condition.

For Indiana, the tour forecast an average corn yield of 183.54 bpa, down from last year’s tour estimate of 193.82 bpa and the three-year tour average of 187.42 bpa.

The tour assessed fields in Illinois and western Iowa on Wednesday before wrapping up in Rochester, Minnesota, on Thursday.

Grain markets are also monitoring disruptions to Black Sea exports after continued Russian and Ukrainian attacks on shipping, including near Russia’s Novorossiysk port.

Ukraine’s wheat exports could decline to between 5 million and 10 million metric tons in the 2026/27 July-to-June season if its Black Sea ports remain blocked by Russian attacks, ASAP Agri consultancy said on Wednesday.

ASAP Agri said Russian wheat exports could also potentially drop this season if its deep-sea exports become severely constrained.