DES MOINES, Iowa (Agriculture.com)--The pre-opening prices for the CME Group grain commodities for Thursday, September 15, 2011 are lower. Corn and soybeans are seen opening 6-8 cents lower, and wheat down 5-7 cents.

In overnight electronic trading, the Dec. corn futures contract traded 8 cents lower at $7.16 1/4 per bushel. The Nov. soybean futures contract traded 6 cents lower at $13.76 3/4 per bushel. The Dec. wheat futures contract traded 7 1/2 cents lower at $6.97. For Dec. soymeal futures, the contract traded $3.10 per short ton lower at $360.30 and Dec. soyoil steady at $57.10. 

The outside markets are supportive for Thursday's grain trade. The real factors driving the calls are the lower overnight markets. 

The USDA released bullish corn Weekly Export Sales Thursday.

For corn, sales were estimated at 1.17 million metric tons vs. trade expectations of 550,000.

Soybean sales were estimated at 351,900 mt last week vs. the trade's expectation of 500,000.

USDA estimated U.S. wheat sales at 413,500 vs. the expectation of 450,000 mt.