Trump-Xi Meeting Hopes Boosted Amid Disappointing Corn Export Sales

Corn prices took a hit on Thursday, September 17, 2026, as December corn fell by 4¢ to $5.30¼ per bushel. Cassidy Walter of Successful Farming reported that November soybeans were down 3¼¢ at $13.17¼ per bushel.

The USDA released its Weekly Export Sales report for the week of September 4-10, which showed disappointing corn export sales of 1.027 million metric tons (mmt), down by about half from last week's strong total and at the lower end of trade guesses that ranged from 700,000-2 mmt.

However, soybean export sales were solid at a net 1.702 mmt, compared to trade guesses of 900,000-2.4 mmt, but down from last week's total. The report also noted wheat export sales of 325,900 metric tons, within trade guesses of 150,000-500,000.

The market is looking ahead to a meeting between President Donald Trump and China's President Xi Jinping next week, with hopes that a deal will be reached to ease tariffs and boost demand from private Chinese crushers.