Soybeans for September delivery at the Chicago Board of Trade closed up 6 1/2 cents, or 0.4%, to $17.71 a bushel, an all-time high close for front-month soybeans. CBOT September corn futures ended up 4 1/4 cents, or 0.6%, at $8.07.
Both markets retreated from highs set earlier in the session. Soybean futures fell from an intraday high of $17.94 3/4, a fresh all-time record for front-month soy futures.
Soy futures continue to ride higher on dwindling crop expectations and continued demand from China. As long as China continues to need soybeans, the U.S. will see more export sales, analysts said.
"We're the only shop open in town, until South America (harvests)," said Joel Karlin, an analyst with Western Milling, a feed company based in Goshen, Calif. Crops in Brazil and Argentina will be harvested next spring.
Corn futures remain in a sideways trading pattern. Mr. Karlin and other traders said the market could remain near the $8 level until there is fresh news on the U.S. crop, which is in the early stages of harvest.
Corn demand already has started to weaken amid the historically high prices, particularly in exports. Weekly corn-export inspections released Tuesday were "horrible," Charlie Sernatinger, vice president of sales for ABN Amro, said in a report. That helped push corn down from its early highs Tuesday, he said.
Declining expectations for this year's corn crop may be starting to "bottom," added Rich Nelson, director of research for Allendale, which on Tuesday projected a national yield of 118.2 bushels per acre based on farmer surveys. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimated 123.4 bushels per acre in August.
Uncertainty about the crop, and expectations that the USDA's most recent estimates for both yield and harvested acreage are too high, will limit the market's downside, Mr. Karlin said.
"I think the market is content to sit here at $8," Mr. Karlin said.
CBOT wheat futures, meanwhile also retreated during the session and ended lower, with the September CBOT contract ending down four cents, or 0.5%, at $8.66 a bushel. The market was pressured by talk "of big Canadian harvesting," Mr. Sernatinger said. Harvest pressure is expected to limit gains across the grains complex this month, as more supply enters the pipeline.
September wheat at the Minneapolis Grain Exchange fell three cents to $9.28 3/4 a bushel, while Kansas City Board of Trade September wheat gained a half cent to $8.81 1/4.
CBOT September oats futures fell 2 1/2 cents to $3.86 1/4 a bushel, while CBOT September rice slipped nine cents to $14.92 per hundredweight.
