On Monday, President Biden signed an Executive Order (E.O.) that amends E.O. 13851 (Blocking Property of Certain Persons Contributing to the Situation in N...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Pakistan’s planting of wheat may be delayed by at least a month in...

The CBOT was mostly lower to start the week with corn and wheat consolidating after a lackluster export report. Soybeans and soymeal sold off sharply as co...

Mexico Produce Petition The U.S. Trade Representative’s office announced the correct decision in denying a Section 301 petition to investigate Mexico...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.815/bushel, down $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.3875/bushel, down $0.12 from yesterday's close.&n...

Weather The weather was the primary focus for South America’s grain and oilseed markets last week. Argentina’s wheat yields continue to be nega...

Rice is the second largest crop in China, behind corn, but is perhaps the most important food crop. This year, drought in south China has hurt yields and q...

USDA released its monthly Cattle on Feed report on Friday; the inventory of cattle and calves on feed was 11.4 million, or 99 percent of October 2021. ...

Except for livestock and soyoil, today’s futures trading opened mostly lower. However, under relatively smaller volumes of trading, corn, soybeans, s...

The Market The market lost faith on Tuesday as soybeans lost double digits in the nearby futures contracts, supposedly over worries that exports were too s...

• U.S. Cattle on Feed totaled 11.4 million head on October 1, 2022, down 1 percent from 2021. • Placements in feedlots during September totaled 2...

Based on USDA projections, inflation-adjusted net farm income this year will be $148 billion, down 1 percent from 2021. The drop in income is led by sharp...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.8425/bushel, up $0.0025 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.5075/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Public Health President Xi Doubles Down on Zero-COVID, Port Cities Face Closures Heading into the 20th Party Congress, some observers were optimistically h...

Where are the season lows? Despite competitiveness problems, corn and wheat prices continue to be stable. At least soybeans have stellar exports to prop th...

King corn is losing a battle with Queen soybeans, and this has activated the politicians for another round of support. Renewable diesel is projected to inc...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.84/bushel, up $0.0575 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.4925/bushel, up $0.08 from yesterday's close. ...

USDA will release its Cattle on Feed report tomorrow; analysts’ pre-report estimates peg the total number of cattle on feed as of 1 October at 99 per...

Export Sales for October 7-13, 2022 Wheat: Net sales of 163,100 metric tons (MT) for 2022/2023 primarily for Mexico (93,500 MT, including decreases of 900...

The CBOT was mostly lower in low volume trade at mid-week with futures largely consolidating within their recent ranges. The exceptions were soyoil and the...

The U.S. Congress often accomplishes more during lame duck sessions, the period after an election and before new members are sworn in, because those retiri...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.7825/bushel, down $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.4125/bushel, down $0.0825 from yesterday's close...

A third of U.S. grain and oilseed exports move through New Orleans and nearly 40 percent if one includes the Texas Gulf ports. Another 15 percent moves out...

Russian Grain Markets: 10-14 October 2022 Winter Crop Planting Russian winter crop planting is still behind schedule and may be the lowest in the last five...

The CBOT pulled back again on Tuesday with only soyoil and the livestock contracts finding their way to higher ground. Funds continued to liquidate their n...

World Social Organization Speaking before the Bretton Woods Committee last week, WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala reportedly identified the top pri...

The 2022 mid-term Congressional elections are three weeks from today. There is a lot of prognostication about the potential outcome, more and more of it pr...

U.S. pet food has been identified as a high-potential agricultural export. Pet food exports have been increasing by an average 8 percent per year and proba...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.81/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.495/bushel, down $0.115 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

This is an abbreviated report due to analysts’ travel obligations. Regional Food Crisis A trifecta of problems including soaring interest rates, high...

The CBOT ended mixed in low volume to start the week. The only market to see substantial action was soyoil as a bullish NOPA report and Russian attacks on...

Mutual Low Expectations The U.S. – India Trade Policy Forum will be held in Washington, DC on 8 November and nobody is expecting much to happen. Ther...

Regional News  Ukraine’s agribusiness Nibulon has completed the “first stage” of a new grain export facility in the Danube River por...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.835/bushel, down $0.0625 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.61/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Iran is a major importer of grains and vegetable oil, but its estrangement is getting worse. Now the EU has joined the U.S. in imposing sanctions on the Is...

In December 2021, USDA Secretary Vilsack urged the industry to “get in a room” to hash out a consensus on addressing dairy policy. This weekend...

Wheat Last week, the Argentine government, exporters, and wheat millers met to discuss the wheat supply and demand situation. The meeting was only the firs...

The CBOT was mostly lower to end the week with corn, soybeans, wheat, and both cattle contracts all posting losses by the closing bell. The only real gaine...

The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...

State Planning For years the term industrial policy was anathema to the Washington consensus that markets work best. Now USTR Katherine Tai is calling for...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.8975/bushel, down $0.08 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.5975/bushel, down $0.325 from yesterday's close.&n...

The Market Wednesday’s October WASDE report was the market mover of the week. Soybean prices were already firm ahead of the report and while the whea...

The September producer and consumer price indices were released this week, and inflation continues to be an issue, as we discussed Monday in conjunction wi...

Export Sales for September 30-October 6, 2022  Wheat: Net sales of 211,800 metric tons (MT) for 2022/2023 primarily for Japan (65,200 MT), Thailand (5...

What could go right? The stock market and commodity futures both started the trading day glumly observing certain fundamentals: U.S. core inflation in Sep...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.9775/bushel, up $0.0475 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.9225/bushel, up $0.1 from yesterday's close. ...

Yesterday’s Word Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report marginally increased its forecast by 0.6 percent for total red meat and broil...

The October WASDE typically creates volatility in CBOT futures and this year’s reaction to the report was no different. The surprise of the day was l...

Representing Who? The Biden Administration is looking at imposing new rules that would convert so-called gig workers at companies like Lyft and Uber into s...

USDA’s October WASDE reduced 2022/23 U.S. soybean production to 4.3 billion bushels, down 65 million on lower yields. Soybean exports are reduced 40...

USDA’s October WASDE reduced 2022/23 U.S. corn production to 13.895 billion bushels, down 49 million on a reduction in yield to 171.9 bushels per acr...

Public Health Coronavirus Lockdowns Return as 20th Party Congress Nears With President Xi essentially guaranteed a third term in office, there was some tho...

U.S. spring planting conditions were sub-optimal, and the guessing involved an expected shift toward farmers uniquely sowing more soybeans than corn. That...

USDA’s October WASDE reduced 2022/23 U.S. wheat production based by 133 million bushels to 1,650 million. However, first quarter total disappearance...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.93/bushel, up $0 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.8225/bushel, down $0.1875 from yesterday's close.  N...

Russian Grain Markets: 3-7 October 2022 Russian winter crop planting is behind schedule at only around 50 percent of the forecast and 1 Mha behind last yea...

The CBOT pared Monday’s gains on Tuesday as traders and funds finalized preparations and positions for the October WASDE report on Wednesday. Wheat s...

Tech Future U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai will be meeting this week with EU Trade Commissioner Valdis Dombrovskis and hearing complaints about Am...

The Thanksgiving holiday is coming up in about six weeks. It is a major driver of retail food shopping, with turkey as the key driver of proteins.  Lo...

California is by far the largest tomato producing state with Florida far behind. However, California processes most of the tomatoes, leaving Florida’...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.93/bushel, down $0.0525 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $9.01/bushel, down $0.37 from yesterday's close. ...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Turkish officials said they want the Ukraine/Russia grain corridor agreem...

The CBOT rallied to start the week with wheat posting 55+ cent gains to lead the way. The catalyst for the day’s rally was Russia’s renewed and...

U.S. House Ways & Means Committee Chairman Richard Neal (D-Massachusetts) took a delegation to the WTO last week and upon return encouraged the Biden W...

Recent economic data is still less than conclusive on where the U.S. economy is headed. Last week’s job report came out strong. Payrolls were up 263,...

Meat substitutes appear to be having trouble in the U.S. but perhaps not in Asia. Recent headlines related to the U.S. market imply a distribution chain th...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.9825/bushel, up $0.15 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $9.38/bushel, up $0.5775 from yesterday's close. ...

Wheat Wheat prices in the local market continue to rise. The fear of drought and a tight supply/demand balance are causing daily increases. Since the begin...

Regional News  Iraq tendered for 50 KMT of milling wheat last week and the lowest offer received was for Ukrainian wheat at $386/MT CNF. U.S. wheat wa...

The CBOT was mostly higher in quiet trade to end the week. Corn and soybean futures moved higher in some technical buying and short-covering due to the exp...

Worth a Try WTO Director General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is hoping that a “retreat” focused on agriculture and scheduled for 24 October will help c...

The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...

The Market Soybean and soymeal futures experienced a volatile week of trading but for soyoil it was all to the topside as it chased a rebound in palm oil v...

Yesterday, we discussed the hog to corn ratio and cost of production for pork producers; today is a look at the dairy sector. As would be expected, all the...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.8325/bushel, up $0.0775 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.8025/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.&nb...

The market chased the overnight lower closes and accelerated them as the trading day wore on. Exceptions were soyoil and pork, with the latter seeing robus...

Last week, we covered the Hogs and Pigs report which showed the swine herd still in contraction mode but slowing down from earlier in the year. The Septemb...

Politics and Protectionism Senator Marco Rubio (R-Florida) and other members of the Florida Congressional delegation are up for reelection next month. Fres...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.755/bushel, down $0.085 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.79/bushel, down $0.23 from yesterday's close. ...

Public Policy Xi Looks To Third Term as Golden Holiday Celebration Arrives With China’s Communist Party set to hold its 20th national congress on 16...

Export Sales for September 23-29, 2022 Wheat: Net sales of 229,400 metric tons (MT) for 2022/2023 primarily for the Philippines (85,300 MT, including decre...

The CBOT was mixed in quiet, two-sided trade at mid-week. Corn and wheat futures managed to post slight gains after trading both in the green and red while...

Markets are volatile due to the large number of economic cross-currents. The WTO unsurprisingly announced that global trade would decline in 2023. The comb...

The world’s population will need more food and that competes with the sustainability of resources. Historically, wars and famine took care of the pro...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.84/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $9.02/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  No...

Russian Grain Markets: 26-30 September 2022 The Russian Ministry of Agriculture reported that as of 30 September wheat production showed 101.9 MMT of bunke...

Once again, macroeconomic markets drove the CBOT’s primary price action, only this time the influence from outside markets was bullish. Overnight, pa...

The U.S. mid-term Congressional election is five weeks away; one election that much of agriculture is watching is Brazil’s Presidential race. In the...

Contrasting Corn Policies Both Mexico and Kenya have a problem with food security and the adverse impacts of inflation, but Nairobi and Mexico City have ar...

Commodity markets are weakening both due to higher interest rates depressing demand and slowed world trade, and because many are traded based on the dollar...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.83/bushel, up $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $9.03/bushel, down $0.09 from yesterday's close. ...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION African grain importers from Russia may find that business is easier as R...

The CBOT started the week on a mixed note with markets attempting to recover from the Grain Stocks report on Friday. Soybeans and the soy complex attempted...

The issue of foreign owned farmland has been percolating since the Chinese entity Fufeng bought 370 acres in Nort Dakota, near the U.S. Airforce’s Gr...

Fortunately, Hurricane Ian did not adversely impact Florida’s production of phosphate for crop production, but nitrogen remains a major supply concer...

The U.S. has six major classes of wheat, with Hard Red Winter (HRW) comprising more than 40 percent of the total. Analysts have noted that the 2022 HRW cro...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.8075/bushel, up $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $9.12/bushel, down $0.095 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Wheat The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, as other exchanges and analysts have done, lowered its wheat crop estimate to 17.5 MMT versus 20.5 MMT in its previo...

The CBOT showed the volatility often characteristic of days when the Grain Stocks report is released. The report was bullish corn and wheat and bearish soy...

WTO Forum Misses Mark WTO Director-General Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala is a well meaning leader who has correctly focused on some of the organization’s burea...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.775/bushel, up $0.08 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $9.215/bushel, up $0.2525 from yesterday's close. ...

The Market Soybeans were fighting their way back to breakeven for the week until USDA issued its quarterly stocks report midday and showed more product on...

Yesterday we covered the quarterly Hogs and Pigs report from USDA, which showed the U.S. swine herd hasn’t broken out of its down cycle; the Septembe...

Two-sided, narrow trading continues as uncertainty competes with certainty over where true value is headed. In an almost hands off manner, soybeans failed...

Campaign Calling Television broadcasting use to shutdown at 7pm. Congress would go on recess for the whole month of August and might not return to DC in an...

USDA released a much anticipated quarterly Hogs and Pigs report for September today. At 73.8 million head, the total inventory as of 1 September followed t...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.695/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.9625/bushel, down $0.07 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Livestock Feed Costs Continue to Surge Courtesy of rising costs for corn, corn byproducts, and soymeal, major feed mills announced another round of price h...

Export Sales for September 16-22, 2022.   Wheat: Net sales of 279,800 metric tons (MT) for 2022/2023 primarily for Guatemala (115,400 MT, includi...

The CBOT saw two-sided trade on Wednesday that was again heavily influenced by macro markets. Early weakness took corn and soybean futures below major tech...

Nutrition and Food Security Today’s White House Conference on Food, Nutrition and Health included the release of a national strategy aimed at ending...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.705/bushel, up $0.03 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $9.0325/bushel, up $0.3175 from yesterday's close. ...

Russian Grain Markets: 19-23 September 2022 The Russian Ministry of Agriculture reported that as of 22 September wheat production was 99.9 MMT of bunker we...

The CBOT and U.S. stocks both seemed ready to rally in early trade on Tuesday and both markets broadly marked strong gains in the morning. By early afterno...

Currency Crisis: The skyrocketing value of the dollar is a problem not just for U.S. exporters but other countries rich and poor alike. Japan is buying dol...

Surplus butter stocks are at their lowest level in years and its price has increased 80 percent faster than already inflated overall grocery prices. The ca...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.675/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.715/bushel, up $0.135 from yesterday's close. ...

Last week the Federal Reserve – by a unanimous vote – moved to increase the federal funds rate by another 75 basis points for the third consecu...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Iran and Pakistan are expected to benefit from Azerbaijan lifting its exp...

The CBOT sold off once again amid pronounced pressure from outside macroeconomic markets. Last week’s Fed interest rate hike – the fastest sinc...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.6625/bushel, down $0.105 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.58/bushel, down $0.225 from yesterday's close.&nb...

Rabobank reports that fertilizer supplies will improve in 2023 with downward pressure on phosphate and potash prices, but nitrogen may see a 20-30 percent...

Competitive Advantage DimSum reports how scaled up techo-farms currently represent only 20 percent of Chinese agricultural production but much the way that...

Today at a public meeting of the White House Competition Council, President Biden announced the second of three promised livestock marketing rules under th...

Wheat The rains that fell across Argentina last week covered a good part of the wheat-growing area, but the accumulated water was very little so soil moist...

Friday’s trade was less about grain market fundamentals than it was “risk off” trade from a meltdown in financial and energy markets. The...

USDA released its monthly cattle on feed report today; the inventory of cattle and calves on feed was 11.3 million, which is slightly above September 2021...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.7675/bushel, down $0.115 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.805/bushel, down $0.3025 from yesterday's close.&...

The Market With the September WASDE fully absorbed, the trade turned its attention to central banks boosting interest rates to crush inflation but at the s...

When markets reach equilibrium with little new demonstrative information, you get days like today. The trades move up slightly or down a little and look li...

USDA will release its Cattle on Feed report tomorrow; analysts’ pre-report estimates peg the total number of cattle on feed as of 1 September 100 per...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.8825/bushel, up $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $9.1075/bushel, up $0.07 from yesterday's close. ...

Export Sales for September 9 to 15, 2022 Wheat: Net sales of 183,500 metric tons (MT) for 2022 Corn:  Net sales of 182,300 MT for 2022  Soybeans:...

USTR Katherine Tai convened the first of what may be a series of meetings with key WTO counterparts on reform of the dispute settlement process (DSP). The...

The CBOT was mixed at mid-week with wheat futures continuing to see support from the pending votes in Ukraine about whether four regions will join Russia...

Macroeconomics Food Costs See Another Big Jump in August Food prices across China rose by 6.1 percent last month, marking the second straight increase of m...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.855/bushel, down $0.065 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $9.0375/bushel, up $0.1 from yesterday's close. ...

Alt Meat Investment U.S. beef producers reacted to President Biden’s Executive Order calling for “Advancing Biotechnology and Biomanufacturing...

Iraq intends to expand the area planted to wheat by 20 percent, but production may not follow. But like much of the Middle East, wheat output is highly dep...

Russian Grain Markets: 12-16 September 2022 As of 15 September, Russian Ministry of Agriculture reported the harvesting of grains and legumes produced 132...

The CBOT rallied sharply on Tuesday with Russia’s actions in Ukraine again at the forefront of the market’s mind. Russia is trying to annex fou...

2023 marks a major shift in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). From the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act until this year, the annual required volu...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.92/bushel, up $0.1375 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.9375/bushel, up $0.6325 from yesterday's close. ...

The U.S. grows less than 2 percent of the world’s rapeseed, but some think this will change. This past winter and spring, canola was called a popular...

Siloed Everywhere  International trade has become moral, geopolitical, and nationalistic, and so has local commerce. Global trade is now based on perc...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Egypt announced that Suez Canal fees for bulk vessels will be increased b...

The CBOT started this week with an apparent reversal of last week’s trends. Wheat futures were on the defensive, thanks to more shipments from Ukrain...

Both houses of Congress were back in session last week; the House is scheduled to be in until 30 September and the Senate until 26 September. Congress will...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.7825/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.305/bushel, down $0.2925 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Wheat The outlook for wheat continues to get more complicated with rains failing to arrive and temperatures beginning to rise, thus increasing the crop's w...

Policy Conflicts and Solutions Policymakers are realizing that the three big issues of climate change, sustainability and food security are conflicting. Th...

The World Bank’s food security update notes that the agricultural price index rose one percent from August to September. Food inflation is high in lo...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.7725/bushel, down $0.0025 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.5975/bushel, up $0.1475 from yesterday's close.&...

Friday’s trade was largely all about macroeconomic markets with traders showing little interest in adding risk to portfolios as the U.S. stock market...

USDA’s dairy product price outlook was increased due to a decreasing cow herd. The forecast for the average number of milk cows in 2022 has been lowe...

Undermining Justice The U.S. Justice Department announced it was dismissing two more price fixing cases against poultry companies. This follows two other c...

Livestock Central Government Takes More Steps to Rein in Pork Prices Following the auction of frozen reserved pork last week, China’s National Develo...

The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...

WASDE Shocker This week started with a bang and ended on a whimper. November soybeans rallied 76 cents/bushel after USDA’s September WASDE report on...

It was quiet in the overnight trade as everyone awaited the first USDA Export Sales report of the month, and when that was issued it was still quiet as the...

WOTUS Volatility The White House is reviewing EPA’s latest attempt to definitively define the waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) for regulatory purposes unde...

The rail strike appears to have been diverted. That is a relief to ag markets, and to the livestock, poultry and dairy sector – especially those segm...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.775/bushel, down $0.0475 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.45/bushel, down $0.2725 from yesterday's close.&n...

The CBOT was mixed at mid-week amid a general lack of fresh news. Corn and soybeans both drifted lower in quiet trade and extended Tuesday’s pullback...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.8225/bushel, down $0.105 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.7225/bushel, up $0.1175 from yesterday's close.&n...

IPEF Impact: Thirteen countries followed the U.S. lead in launching the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework negotiations. However, the biggest market potential...

Russian Grain Markets: 5-9 September 2022 As of 7 September, the Russian Ministry of Agriculture reported the harvesting of grains and legumes produced 125...

With the September WASDE now past, the CBOT largely entered consolidation mode on Tuesday with a renewed focus on weather as yields are finalized, export d...

Inflation rose at 0.1 percent in August, against the market’s expectation of a 0.1 percent drop. For the year, inflation is up 8.3 percent since Augu...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.9275/bushel, down $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.605/bushel, up $0.0175 from yesterday's close.&n...

The Biden Administration is reportedly making contingency plans in case rail workers go on strike. Some point out that the President has the power to force...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Iran’s government increased the purchase price of local wheat, to t...

USDA’s outlook for the domestic soybean crop in 2022/23 is reduced in the September WASDE. Harvested area is down 0.6 million from the August forecas...

USDA’s outlook for the domestic corn crop in 2022/23 is reduced in the September WASDE. U.S. corn production for 2022/23 was adjusted to 13.9 billion...

USDA’s outlook for the domestic wheat crop in 2022/23 in unchanged in the September WASDE. The projected 2022/23 seasonal average farm price is lower...

The September WASDE is typically one of the most volatile reports of the year with USDA’s “objective yield” assessments of corn and soybe...

Today’s Word Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report marginally increased its forecast by 0.2 percent for total red meat and poultry p...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.96/bushel, up $0.11 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.5875/bushel, down $0.1075 from yesterday's close. ...

Local Sham Reprise USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack, proving you can’t teach an old dog new tricks, is back with a reprise of the Eat Local mantra he cheer...

Wheat Argentina’s wheat markets – and much of the world – remains focused on the weather issues plaguing the new crop, which will be harv...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.85/bushel, up $0.165 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.695/bushel, up $0.405 from yesterday's close.  N...

The CBOT turned higher on the final full day of trading before the September WASDE is released at Noon ET on Monday. Wheat futures led the way as the marke...

The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...

Market Value A late week rally that pulled soybeans back above the 50-day moving average of $14/bushel was not enough to prevent an overall down week for c...

The California Department of Food and Agriculture (CDFA) has finalized the implementing rules for Proposition 12 regarding animal confinement regulation. T...

Putin’s threats to Ukraine’s exports dominated yesterday’s trading, together with concerns about macroeconomic contraction, but both issu...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.685/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.29/bushel, down $0.1525 from yesterday's close.&nb...

Politicians blamed Covid and now Putin for the crisis in food and energy, but they have been just as complicit in the ongoing shortfalls. All industries, i...

With fall and colder weather coming, so does the threat of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) re-emerging as wild fowl start to migrate again. As we...

The CBOT mostly drifted lower in lackluster trade overnight until Russia’s President Putin made comments that hinted the country has few intentions o...

Livestock NRDC Sets Meeting With Hog Industry to Discuss Market Stability China’s National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) will hold a priva...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.71/bushel, down $0.05 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.4425/bushel, up $0.2725 from yesterday's close. ...

Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Piyush Goyal says that India would be “happy and willing” to negotiate a trade agreement with the U.S. Am...

Russia is complaining that Ukraine’s grain exports are not going to poor countries, undermining the intent of the grain corridor agreement. There is...

Russian Grain Markets: August–2 September 2022 Grain markets were volatile. While global markets remain bullish, Russian traders are still speculatin...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.76/bushel, up $0.1025 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.17/bushel, up $0.06 from yesterday's close.  No...

The CBOT was mixed to start the week with a weekend of dry weather offering support to the corn market and sparking a 10-cent rally in that commodity. Conv...

Political Fallout USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack said yesterday, “Candidly, our view — and I’ve expressed this to EU officials — our vi...

In 2012, global trade in alfalfa hit 1.7 MMT and there was great optimism that it would continue to grow as a valuable forage crop. In fact, it hit the mil...

There has been some underlying positive economic news starting to emerge from the August data, though given the unprecedented nature of the economic disrup...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Sri Lanka’s Minister of Trade says there is no reason for wheat flo...

The U.S. will celebrate Labor Day on Monday, 5 September, and the U.S. markets as well as our office will be closed that day. As a result, we will not upda...

The CBOT bounced higher heading into the long, holiday weekend, but trading volume was anemic as many traders apparently decided to head home for a four-da...

Futures Market While today’s trading session was a bit of a recovery it still left the week with overall declines for soybeans and soy products. A lo...

Congress will return to session after the August recess in the coming weeks, the Senate next week and the House the following week. They will be in session...

The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.6575/bushel, up $0.0775 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.11/bushel, up $0.1675 from yesterday's close. ...

The markets opened lower and then turned deeper red as the session wore on. Much of the pressure was from outside markets, plus caution ahead of the three-...

So far this month, two notable announcements were made about new beef packing capacity. These come after much of 2020 saw criticism about the nature of the...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.58/bushel, down $0.125 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $7.9425/bushel, down $0.3725 from yesterday's close.&n...

The CBOT was mixed on Wednesday with wheat futures continuing their slow rally while soybeans and soymeal continue to fall, despite fresh soybean export sa...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.705/bushel, down $0.0675 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.315/bushel, up $0.1125 from yesterday's close.&nb...

Livestock Live Hog Prices Remain Firm as Fall Holidays Near China’s domestic hog prices continued to rally here in the second half of August. The nat...

In their report, “China's Import Potential for Beef, Corn, Pork, and Wheat,” Economic Research Service analysts correctly note that the Middle...

Russian Grain Markets: 22-26 August 2022 Russia’s harvest continues with grain production, as of 25 August, at 78.9 MMT which is up 24.8 percent from...

Poultry and poultry products are among the most efficient converters of grain into animal protein products. The feed conversion ratio (FCR) for eggs at 2/1...

After starting the week on a high note, the CBOT posted a “turnaround Tuesday” with corn and wheat giving back much of Monday’s gains. Th...

Broiler production struggled for much of the year to keep up with increased demand, especially the demand created by retail inflation and more substitution...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.7725/bushel, down $0.0575 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.2025/bushel, down $0.225 from yesterday's close...

Separation of Church and State USDA announced a $300 million program to assist farmers in certifying organic. The agency notes that for years, organic has...

The current tight global wheat market is a dynamic that is here to stay. For the most recent five years, global wheat consumption has increased by 7 percen...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Bangladesh semi-official reports say that a wheat import agreement for 50...

Dec 22 Corn closed at $6.83/bushel, up $0.1875 from yesterday's close.  Dec 22 Wheat closed at $8.4275/bushel, up $0.375 from yesterday's close. ...

CBOT grain markets were higher to start the week while the soy complex drifted lower amid little fresh news and a lack of international buying interest. Co...

Corn Argentina’s corn harvest is finally finished and, according to the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, total production reached 52 MMT, down 3 MMT from...

Last week, the California Air Resources Board (CARB) finalized a rule that will outlaw the sale of gas-fueled cars by 2035. The plan is phased in requiring...

Food for the Illiterate Deceptive food marketing is rampant because it is successful. However, the most belittling approach is the little words campaign. F...

Climate change is being blamed for drought limited grain crops this year, but tree nuts are a better example. Weather has caused volatility in grain market...