Grain futures closed in higher territories on Friday with healthy exports data gave traders renewed optimism, despite limited Chinese participation.

Grain futures closed in higher territories on Friday with healthy exports data gave traders renewed optimism, despite limited Chinese participation.

Regarding oil news, The U.S. West Texas Intermediate Crude Oil August futures were trading higher by 0.9 percent to close the session at 73.88 USD per barrel and is currently trading at 73.65 USD per barrel at 13:00 GMT.

On the other hand, Brent Oil September futures were lower to trade at 77.03 USD per barrel at the close in Friday sessions and is currently trading at 77.45 USD per barrel at 13:00 GMT.

Meanwhile, Iran’s oil minister on Sunday accused U.S. President Donald Trump of insulting OPEC by ordering it to increase production and reduce prices, adding that the country’s oil production and exports had not changed as a result of U.S. pressure.

Wheat:

CBOT September Wheat Futures traded at 5.15 USD per bushel at the close of the session, up by 2.44 percent.

Wheat prices were bolstered by production concerns coming out of the European Union.

Additionally, Wheat exports last week saw 16.2 million bushels in sales, which was moderately lower than the prior week’s total of 20.7 million bushels but slightly higher than trade estimates of 14.7 million bushels. Meanwhile, wheat export shipments of 13.7 million bushels are not keeping pace with the weekly rate needed to reach USDA forecasts.

Furthermore, France reported a slower soft wheat export pace in May, totaling 62.5 million bushels and down 15 percent from April.

In exports, Japan purchased 2.9 million bushels of food-quality wheat in a regular tender that closed late Thursday. Of the total, about 65% was sourced from the U.S.

Initial volume estimates on Friday were for 89,109 CBOT contracts,  below Thursday’s final count of 132,482.

Corn:

CBOT September Corn Futures rose more than 2 percent in Friday session to close at 3.60-1/4 USD per bushel, amid technical buying and spillover strength from soybeans.

Furthermore, Corn export found 17.3 million bushels in old crop sales last week, plus another 9.2 million bushels in new crop sales, for a total of 26.4 million bushels. That was less than half of the prior week’s tally of 58.4million bushels and moderately lower than trade estimates of 41.2 million bushels, China sold another 32.0 million bushels of its state reserves of corn at auction Friday, which was about 20.6 percent of the total available for sale.

Soybean

CBOT September Soybean Futures closed higher to traded at 8.77-1/4 USD per bushel amid healthy exports data, although Chinese participation was somewhat limited.

Meanwhile, On Friday, the U.S. and China each enacted 25 percent tariffs on about 34 billion dollars in goods. China reports “retaliatory tariffs” began July 6th without offering lots of other details at this time, but the country’s Communist Party newspaper said that the list includes U.S. soybeans. On the flip side, The United States has targeted the more industrial and consumer list of Chinese goods, including airplanes, steel, computer components and more.

Additionally, Soybean export sales found 20.5 million bushels in old crop sales, plus another 17 million bushels in new crop sales for total sales of 37.5 million bushels. That hovered just above the last week’s sales figure of 36.8 million bushels and landed moderately higher than trade estimates of 24 million bushels.