Big Picture Economics The trade war started by President Trump does not deserve all the blame, although it certainly has not helped the world economy. Howe...

Now that USDA has reopened, its reports will resume. The next WASDE report on 8 February will likely include information that would have been contained in...

Brazil’s Soybean Demand in CY 2018 Last week Oil World published soybean usage data for Brazil in CY 2018, which showed it consumed or exported more...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7725/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1325/bushel, down $0.055 from yesterday's close.&...

In just a few days, the calendar will turn to February. This is the time when U.S. row crop farmers begin to get serious about spring planting intentions...

Lack of fundamental news, except better weather for Brazil, left the CBOT to head lower in lackluster trading. Fund selling was notable, especially in whea...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Egypt’s GASC has announced that future wheat tenders will be paid by letters of credit on sight t...

Forest for the Trees Malaysia is threatening to block imports from the EU due to Brussels’ decision to restrict palm oil’s eligibility under th...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7975/bushel, down $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1875/bushel, down $0.0125 from yesterday's close...

Soybeans Brazil The soybean market came alive again last week, which was more than welcome after several slow months. Chinese firms were buying some positi...

Options traders remain neutral/bullish corn while retaining their decidedly bullish sentiments about wheat. Soybeans’ options IV curve retains its ne...

Many were hopeful that last Friday’s actions to reopen the U.S. government plus some optimism that this week’s meeting with China will go well...

The partial U.S. government shutdown has come to a temporary end. The country might find itself in the same situation again in just three weeks if Congress...

For the first three weeks of 2019, ethanol production dropped to 1.027 million barrels/day from 1.046 million barrels/day for Q4 2018 and was well below ye...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was very firm last week. Domestic prices in Russia were reported to be $5-8 higher/MT than the previous week. There were...

USG – Next Steps President Trump blinked in the face of a record-long government shutdown, and it is for the better. As we noted more than a week ago...

A short-term deal has been reached to reopen the government until 15 February with a “clean” continuing resolution that contains no funding for...

Markets didn’t do very much overnight in light volume. Corn and soybean futures were a penny higher with wheat down 1-2 cents. Markets then opened th...

Based on optimism that the partial shutdown of the U.S. government might be nearing an end, U.S. financial markets were strong in pre-market trade and open...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8025/bushel, up $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.2/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close. ...

Sugar Production Estimates Lowered Based on new satellite survey data from the Indian Sugar Mills Association’s (ISMA’s) satellite survey of su...

CME grain and soy futures struggled to find volume and price direction amid the continued lack of inputs from USDA and with little else to lead them. Tradi...

Canadian Nutrition Guidelines and the DGA In the U.S., USDA and the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) are responsible for the update of the Die...

Upstaging Agriculture Just as the Trump administration has a unique penchant for bilateral trade agreements, believing they provide the U.S. with greater l...

Brazilian States' Reduced Soy Crop Forecasts The government of the Brazilian state of Parana today forecast its 2019 soybean crop at 16.8 MMT, down from it...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.77/bushel, down $0.0175 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.215/bushel, down $0.045 from yesterday's close.&nb...

With fresh USDA data on crop production, quarterly stocks, winter wheat acreage, export sales and changes to supply/demand analyses all suspended by the go...

It is always difficult to trade grain and soy futures based on politics and political rhetoric, and this truism is proving itself once again. Markets were...

U.S.-Japan Prospects Donald Trump is reviled for his efforts at brinksmanship. He is called a fascist and a bully. The approach is fairly common but more d...

Russian Grain Markets: 14-18 January 2019 All domestic grain increased in both RUB and USD expression. The average milling wheat export price rose $3/MT to...

Macroeconomic Trends China’s Economic Slowdown Hits Food and Agricultural Sectors After increases in the cost of food exceeded 3 percent during Septe...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7875/bushel, down $0.0025 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.26/bushel, up $0.0475 from yesterday's close.&nb...

The CBOT was higher in moderate volume trading today with the soy complex finding fundamental support from a few sources and wheat managing to move higher...

It is now well into the second month of the partial government shutdown, and the blackout of the usual information from USDA continues. The only regular re...

Shutdown Informs USMCA The current U.S. government shutdown not only delays the U.S. International Trade Commission’s analysis of the U.S.-Mexico-Can...

Stepped-Up U.S. Soybean Exports to China Today’s USDA export inspections report indicated 416,409 MT of U.S. soybeans were inspected for shipment to...

A high-level Chinese delegation is due to arrive in Washington, DC next week to engage in trade dispute negotiations that are scheduled to begin on 31 Janu...

The Federal Reserve Banks issued the first Beige Book for 2019 on 16 January. The report is published eight times per year (the previous release was on 5 D...

The CBOT was volatile (relative to recent history, at least) today, with futures stronger at the open amid hopes of progress from U.S.-Sino trade talks. Ru...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Last Thursday Egypt reopened the five ports that had been closed the previous Sunday because of weather...

Monday, 21 January is a U.S. holiday. The markets and World Perspectives, Inc. are closed that day. Please note that the next issue of Ag Perspectives...

Trade Policy Wowzas It is a long weekend for the commodity futures market, and policymakers have left a bevy of developments to think about, including the...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) has announced the new Democratic members of the House Agriculture Committee (see below). First, though, there was...

As said every year at this time when we take a very preliminary look at the corn outlook for the coming marketing year, it will be all about yield. The U.S...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8175/bushel, up $0.0175 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1775/bushel, up $0 from yesterday's close.  M...

Markets had some follow-through overnight from yesterday’s good gains. Wheat and soybeans were up 3-4 cents with corn fractionally higher. None of th...

Rabi Sowing Down As of 18 January 2019, the total rabi planted area was down 4.8 percent versus 2017/18. While wheat is among the crops affected, pulses an...

Grain and soy prices were mildly firmer overnight, based mostly on forecasts that the adverse South American weather conditions would persist at least thro...

Cattle on Feed Report is MIA USDA’s Cattle on Feed (COF) report is normally released on the third Friday of each month. The inventory data is for the...

In these days of the USDA blackout, the soybean market is left to focus on the prospects from U.S. China trade negotiations and South American weather. Of...

Government Shutdown Options Using federal employees as ransom in a White House/congressional fight over a very small federal spending program (border secur...

Malaysia to Double Use of Palm-Based Biodiesel The glut and low prices of palm oil have caused the government of Malaysia to double the blending requiremen...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8/bushel, up $0.06 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1775/bushel, up $0.0525 from yesterday's close.  M...

Morning price action at the CBOT was firm but mostly boring. That all changed around midday, however, as rumors of export sales, combined with headlines th...

The missing USDA reports due to the government shutdown receive all of the attention, but the Commodity Futures Trading Commission’s (CFTC’s) w...

Diluted Brinksmanship Politicians do not usually make unpleasant decisions until and unless they are forced into a corner. That is the whole point of brink...

Russian Grain Markets: 8-11 January 2019 All domestic grain prices (except for milling rye) rose in RUB expression, but the growth in USD expression was si...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.74/bushel, up $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.125/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close. ...

CBOT prices were higher today after yesterday’s selloff. There was little fundamental reason for the move, except that traders must have sold what th...

Oilseeds Sharp Correction in Soymeal Inventory With China’s soybean imports down sharply last month versus December 2017, the nationwide estimated so...

Grain and soy markets tried to generate a “Turnaround Tuesday” during the overnight session but struggled to hold on to minor gains. This diffi...

Pick Your Messenger President Trump assured farmers attending the American Farm Bureau annual meeting that the negotiations with China are going great and...

The Senate Environment and Public Works Committee (EPW) will hold a confirmation hearing tomorrow for Andrew Wheeler, nominated last week by President Trum...

It takes something like the current partial shutdown of the U.S. government to make those involved with agricultural markets realize how much we depend on...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7125/bushel, down $0.0725 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.11/bushel, down $0.0325 from yesterday's close.&...

Corn and soybeans plunged today on news from USTR Lighthizer that the U.S. and China made little progress on trade talks. The market had previously been en...

Higher Soybean Inspections Last Week but Not Many for China Yesterday’s USDA export inspections report indicated 1,085,251 MT of soybeans were inspec...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Bad weather in Egypt has closed four ports on the Red Sea and two on the Mediterranean. Very strong win...

Manipulated Eats The year ahead will be packed with various campaigns trying to change the human food consumption pattern. They will be funded by environme...

The new House Democratic majority is in the process of making committee assignments, and the new chairmen are outlining their panels’ agendas. Howeve...

Wheat and soybean futures were lower overnight, and they stuck to that pattern through the day with soybeans opening with steeper losses. Meanwhile, corn w...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.785/bushel, up $0.0025 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1425/bushel, down $0.0525 from yesterday's close.&n...

.S. soybean supplies at the end of MY 2019/20 could exceed a record 1 billion bushels. However, the following factors could change that outlook: A steep r...

Today’s trading in corn futures and options reflects the increasingly bullish sentiments held by traders. Similarly, despite wheat futures’ rec...

Soybeans Brazil The soybean market remains slow. With China very quiet and Brazil currently cheaper than U.S. Gulf, basis continues to fall. The only movem...

The federal government shutdown is now in day 21, matching the record set in 1995-1996 when the House in the 104th Congress was controlled by Republicans a...

The U.S. government is headed into a record-long shutdown with no end in sight. Americans are fractured politically. There is even talk of civil war on soc...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7825/bushel, up $0.02 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.195/bushel, up $0.0575 from yesterday's close. ...

Markets rebounded overnight following Thursday’s big losses. It was interesting that no one could come up with a solid reason yesterday for the unexp...

One of the major USDA reports that were supposed to be issued today was the U.S. winter wheat planting estimate. WPI’s own estimate that was discusse...

Pest-Damaged Crop and No Imports Driving Corn Prices After the spot market price of corn in India touched $255/MT in early December 2018, the end user indu...

Grain and soy futures traded quietly overnight amid low volume, and prices were not much changed by the morning recess. The overnight action (or rather the...

Odd Man Up Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) is chairman of the powerful U.S. Senate Finance Committee and is at once mainstream and unpredictable. He has said he di...

Animal Disease It’s back! After the hog market was disrupted in 2014/15 by the spread of porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDv), a new case has been...

Grain and soy futures markets were mostly mired in a pit of bearish mud for the last half of 2018. Years of big U.S. and world crops had resulted in a...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7625/bushel, down $0.0575 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1375/bushel, down $0.0625 from yesterday's close...

Sharp selling emerged at the CBOT today in response to weaker overnight prices. Cash prices for soybeans and corn have weakened in response to farmer selli...

Grain and soy futures prices were slightly firmer overnight across the board. Chicago and KC wheat were up 4-5 cents at one point with corn and soybeans 2-...

Agriculture’s Unique Pedestal It comes with downsides, but U.S. agriculture continues to be highlighted in a manner that would have been unheard of a...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.82/bushel, up $0.02 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.2/bushel, up $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  Mar...

Yesterday’s price pressure and commensurate rise in open interest suggested a fair number of new short positions were initiated. Today, however, posi...

Please note that today’s report is abbreviated because of the holidays.   Kazakhstan: 11.5 MMT of Grain Transported by Kazakhstan Temir Zholy in...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Reaches 20-Week High With market data limited last week due to the New Year holiday, there was a lag in reporting. During the tw...

For now, grain and soy markets are mainly about the ongoing trade talks with China, its purchases of soybeans and possibly grain, and South American weathe...

Shutdown The House of Representatives reconvened today with a series of votes scheduled for various appropriations bills aimed at reopening some federal ag...

Sino-American Mirage (Shèn jĭng) The reports out of Beijing are that U.S. and Chinese negotiators have made great progress in their trade talks, eno...

As the partial U.S. government shutdown has moved into its third week with no end in sight, the nation’s press is increasingly focused on the ripple...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8/bushel, down $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1775/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close. ...

China Back in the Market for U.S. Soybeans After a break during the Christmas and New Year holidays, China’s state-owned grain companies were again b...

The Closing Bell Wrap-Up is back after a few weeks’ hiatus working on a few special projects for WPI. Since this article was last written, the grain...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EASTMEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Syria reports that four vessels carrying 80,000 MT of Russian wheat have arrived at its Tartous and Lata...

USG Shutdown Forecast Historical: The partial shutdown of U.S. government (USG) services that began 16 days ago must last until 13 January to beat the 21-d...

The U.S. government shutdown has entered its third week, and there appears to be no end in sight yet. This has affected nearly all of USDA’s reportin...

Reports from China indicate the initial trade talks began with a productive session. Meanwhile, meetings this weekend between Vice President Mike Pence and...

Markets were quiet again overnight, although soybean futures showed some life early this morning and closed the night session a nickel higher with corn ste...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8225/bushel, down $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1675/bushel, down $0.0025 from yesterday's close...

Soybeans Market Overview Last week the Chinese Federal Reserve (Sinograin) again bought several vessels of U.S. soybeans, reportedly 1.2-1.5 MMT. Most purc...

Despite futures’ range-bound trading through December and into January, corn options remain positioned bullishly with futures above technical resista...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week. The holiday period in Russia and Ukraine will continue until the end of this week. R...

USDA’s WASDE report will not be released on the regularly scheduled date of 11 January as the Office of the Chief Economist has indicated that it tak...

Most analysts were expecting U.S. winter wheat farmers to increase planted acres this past fall. Moisture conditions across the southern plains were very g...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.83/bushel, up $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.17/bushel, up $0.0325 from yesterday's close. ...

Plurilateral for NTBs Australia has launched an effort to address the nontariff trade barriers (NTBs) its exporters face. The Aussie beef industry says NTB...

The partial government shutdown continues with little or no progress in talks between Democrats and Republicans. The USDA said next Friday’s importan...

Pulse Prices Continue to Rise; GOI Restricts Imports   India’s Ministry of Commerce has extended the yellow pea import restriction through...

Chinese Pork Situation and Trade Outlook  After the initial finding of African Swine Fever (ASF) in China in August, the disease has been found in thr...

Trade War End or Beginning Some analysts are saying that the downward pressure on both the U.S. and Chinese economies will force a close to the trade war...

The probability is increasing for soybean prices to establish a long-term low during early 2019. End-users are encouraged to utilize any such price decline...

USDA officials indicate that unless the closed parts of the government reopen tomorrow, 4 January, the 11 January reports including the WASDE will almost c...

A substantial portion of Brazil’s soybean-growing areas have been very dry in recent weeks, though some areas got a minor respite last week. Unfortun...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7975/bushel, up $0.04 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1375/bushel, up $0.07 from yesterday's close. ...

The results of a recent WPI poll which asked respondents how bullish or bearish they are for grain and soy prices for 2019 were striking. Of the respondent...

Traders began the first trading day of 2019 figuratively wearing the blindfold resulting from the lack of USDA information due to the partial government sh...

Phoney Trade War In September 1939, Hitler’s army imposed the infamous blitzkrieg attack on Poland and, with the complicity of the Soviet Union, the...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7575/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.0675/bushel, up $0.035 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Oilseeds Trade War and Weather Made Brazil China’s Main 2018 Source Recently released data from China’s Customs Bureau show how much China came...

Russian Grain Markets:  Most Russian grain and oilseed markets are quiet with many traders on holiday from 1-7 January. Consequently, that section of...

The WPI team extends our best wishes to you and your families for a healthy and Happy New Year. Thank you for your faithful readership, we are looking forw...

Just kidding.  Commodity prices are still going to go up and down. Donald Trump will still be sowing his unique brand of volatility. U.S. House Democr...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.75/bushel, down $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.0325/bushel, down $0.0825 from yesterday's close.&n...

Grain and oilseed markets in 2018 were disappointing for producers, which, of course, means they were good for consumers because prices trended lower, at l...

Happy New Year! Corn and wheat were steady overnight with soybeans 5-6 cents higher. The overnight soy complex optimism was the result of weekend twee...

Congress is in extended recess and most agencies of the executive branch are shut down, which means the only real “policymaking” in Washington...

Due to the New Year's holiday, the weekly MERCOSUR soybean market commetary will be delayed until next week (7 January 2018).   Grains It was a s...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was mostly unchanged last week on limited activity was due to the holiday season in Europe. The Russian domestic wheat m...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.755/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.115/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Ma...

One potential market-related impact of the current government shutdown could be on ag trade going into the New Year. Some issues such as import-export insp...

Markets closed slightly higher in the Thursday night session on very light volume. They then opened firmer this morning with soybeans quickly jumping to ga...

Human nature veers toward concern over the future, but facts are irrefutable. As noted by Steven Pinker in Enlightenment Now, everything in the world is ge...

The world has been happily assuming that Brazil will crush last year’s soybean production estimate in 2019. More acres were sown, and they were plant...

Rapeseed-Mustard Prices Crash as Hopes of Exporting to China Vanish As relations between the U.S. and China thawed and a 90-day truce was called, all hopes...

Today’s CME closing grain market board was very unusual in the array of tiny price changes compared with that of yesterday. MGEX wheat had the bigges...

ASF Found in Chinese Hog Feed China’s General Administration on Customs has discovered African swine fever (ASF) virus in swine feed. It was found sp...

Near the end of every year, we are bombarded with a wide variety of summaries and analyses explaining what occurred that was important, why it was importan...

Trump administration officials meet with their Chinese counterparts the week of 7 January to begin trade negotiations. No one should expect a quick or easy...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.745/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.105/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close. ...

Excess Soymeal Driving Chinse Soy Crushers’ Poor Margins While the U.S.-China trade war has caused losses for the U.S. soybean sector (among others)...

The government remains partially closed and apparently will continue to be into 2019. President Trump is dug in over his demand for funding of the proposed...

Dour Trade Prognosis Respondents to WPI’s last survey favored a resolution to the U.S.-China trade war in 2019 (see Hope versus Expectation below), b...

Russian Grain Markets: 17-21 December 2018 Domestic prices for milling and feed wheat as well as corn continued to rise in RUB expression but decrease in U...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7325/bushel, down $0.045 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1/bushel, down $0.065 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Macro Trends U.S. Agricultural Exports to China Down Nearly 50 Percent in 2018 U.S. agricultural exports to China during January-October were a paltry 14.5...

Markets finished the Sunday night session with corn and soybeans down 3 cents, while wheat markets were mostly steady. They opened almost exactly at those...

Market participation and trading volume are both usually light over the Christmas holiday, and that should also be the case though the New Year. Meaningful...

Soybeans Market Overview Last week (the last full trading week of 2018) showed good movement of soybean vessels around the world. China’s state reser...

U.S. stocks are nearing a bear market, and there is nothing ahead to give that much hope. The trade war between the U.S. and China will continue to weigh h...

The adage that “the devil is in the details” has been borne out twice in the past week. These instances involved USDA’s new GM labeling r...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was firmer last week. Russia’s domestic prices were $2-6/MT higher in different regions. Meanwhile, it has exporte...

It’s been a tumultuous week on Capitol Hill. Congress faces a deadline of midnight tonight to fund the rest of the government and thereby prevent a p...

2018: Hot or Not Where one spends precious time is important to both the individual and those wanting some of that person’s time. A review of the rea...

Markets ended the Thursday evening session with wheat down 6 cents, corn up a penny and soybeans steady. Volume was light and continued that way in today&r...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.785/bushel, up $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.14/bushel, down $0.095 from yesterday's close. ...

In response to lost soybean export sales to China because of the trade dispute, President Trump and USDA announced in August that farmers would be paid abo...

India’s Corn Prices Too High; End Users Want Imports The Indian poultry, dairy, feed and starch sectors’s corn consumption has grown 1.1 MMT si...

Grain and soy futures traded modestly higher overnight following yesterday’s weakness, although trading volume was in a holiday mode. The market was...

Article I versus 2 The Congress, as enumerated in Article 1 of the American Constitution, holds more powers than the Executive Branch as outlined in Articl...

USDA released the monthly Cattle on Feed and quarterly Hogs and Pigs reports today after the markets closed, a day early given the coming holiday schedule...

Grain market chatter has tended toward things like the big U.S. crops, prospects for large South American crops, tightening world wheat and corn stocks but...

Soy Export Sales Highlights Today’s USDA weekly export sales report indicated a total 1,561,000 MT of soybeans were sold to China last week. USDA als...

• Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totaled 11.7 million h...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7525/bushel, down $0.065 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.235/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close. ...

WPI's monthly publication features analyses of U.S. agribusinesses, the U.S. grain and soybean sectors, the U.S. biofuels industry, the global outlook for...

Wheat: Net sales of 313,600 metric tons for 2018/2019 were down 58 percent from the previous week and 42 percent from the prior 4-week average.  Corn:...

Grain and soy prices were mixed overnight, having traded on both sides of Tuesday’s closes. As the early morning trading recess approached, wheat pri...

Russian Grain Markets: 10-14 December 2018 Domestic grain prices grew except for the decreases in a few regions for corn. The average milling wheat export...

Comprehensive versus Selective There continues to be a wide gulf between Brussels and Washington over what will be included in negotiating efforts for a ne...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8175/bushel, down $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.225/bushel, down $0.1025 from yesterday's close...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Has Minor Uptick Last week China’s soymeal inventories continued the same divergent and varied trends at the regional leve...

The overnight session opened with little price direction. Grain and soy prices were down just slightly, although they recovered enough to trade in mixed fa...

Trade Compensation Legs The Trump administration has approved a second tranche of trade mitigation payments to U.S. farmers and asserts that it is the fina...

Escalating Drought in Paraguay and Brazil Over the past few months, the soybean market has understandably been dominated by the U.S-China trade dispute. Ho...

With the Christmas and New Year holidays looming, this is the last full week for trading of grain and soy futures markets in 2018. Following early closures...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.855/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.3275/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Corn and soybean futures were higher while wheat market dropped lower in unenthusiastic trade. Wheat has a bullish technical story, however, and could see...

Congress faces a midnight Friday deadline to pass an omnibus spending bill that funds seven agencies in the federal government, including USDA. Any governm...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Morocco has reportedly reduced the import tariff on grains from Russia to zero, although it has not bee...

Beans versus Cows This week EU agriculture commissioners are considering the policy proposals for replacing imported oilseeds with newly incentivized, dome...

World crop production slipped in 2018 from the record levels reached in the previous five years, which masked the fact that world consumption also set reco...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.84/bushel, down $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.3525/bushel, up $0.0525 from yesterday's close.&nb...

Wheat, corn and soybean markets started higher Sunday night, and they held those small gains throughout the entire session. The relatively light volume the...

Soybeans Market Overview The soybeans market was surprised last week when the U.S. government announced that 1.4 MMT of soybeans had been sold to China. Th...

Corn options traders remain bullish even after two weeks of sideways trading. While the market is likely to need fulfillment of the 3 December chart gap be...

Organizing of the Democratic caucuses in the Senate and House is taking shape for the 116th Congress as the slates of committee chairmen for the House and...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market is firmer as stocks are decreasing. Russia has already exported 21 MMT since the start of the campaign, and those stocks...

The final conference report farm bill, which is now on the president’s desk awaiting signature, totals $428 billion for its 2019-2023 authorization p...

SPS Minus Minus U.S. agriculture groups responded to a U.S. request for comments on what should be the objectives in negotiating a transatlantic trade agre...

Corn was higher with soybeans up slightly and wheat mixed in the Thursday night session. Trading volume was fairly strong overnight. This morning USDA anno...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8475/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.3/bushel, down $0.06 from yesterday's close. ...

USDA trimmed the U.S. wheat export forecast by 25 million bushels (680,000 MT) in the December WASDE (supply & demand), but that wasn’t a surpris...

China Purchases U.S. Soybeans China has followed through on its commitment to President Trump with a purchase of U.S. soybeans. Yesterday USDA announced th...

Vegetable Oil Imports Decline India’s vegetable oil imports totaled 1.073 MMT last month, a drop of 10.1 percent from 1.174 MMT in October and down 1...

Overnight futures trade featured stronger wheat prices, lower soybean prices and corn near unchanged with only average volume. The soybean market seemed to...

Unveiling Good and Bad Members of the European Parliament voted 427–172 to obligate the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to publish all relevant...

Smaller-than-expected Chinese soybean purchases (real purchases, nonetheless!) sent the soybean market lower this morning which pressured hog futures as we...

The Chinese are back! After days of rumors, USDA/ FAS confirmed China’s return to the U.S. soybean market by reporting its purchase of 1.13 MMT for 2...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8425/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.36/bushel, up $0.095 from yesterday's close. ...

Farm Bill Animal Disease Measures The House of Representatives passed the final conference report on the 2018 Farm Bill yesterday (397-46), which followed...

• Wheat:  Net sales of 754,100 metric tons for 2018/2019 were up 6 percent from the previous week and 62 percent from the prior 4-week average. &...

It is hard to keep track of the rumors flying around concerning Chinese plans to buy U.S. soybeans. Their most common thread has China buying 5-8 MMT, alth...

Tale of Trade Restrictions’ Tail China came into the U.S. market today for soybeans, but American farmers now realize they need to diversify their ma...

Russian Grain Markets: 3-7 December 2018 Active demand drove domestic grain prices higher except for corn, which had a slight decline in the South. The ave...

The biggest news today was a report that Chinese state-owned enterprises purchased nearly 2 MMT of soybeans from the U.S. Early reports said 12 cargos (0.5...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8525/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.265/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close. ...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Contracts Again with Modest Decrease Fluctuating demand at the regional level due to the varying impacts of African swine fever...

It has been more than 10 days since the Trump-Xi meeting in Buenos Aires wherein, according to President Trump and others in attendance, China agreed to pu...

Transatlantic Angst The American side accuses Brussels of delaying tactics in the negotiations and insists that agriculture is an agreed part of the effort...

The farm bill conference report was signed by the conferees last night and the text released. It is being touted as a “bipartisan” bill despite...

USDA notes the following: Total U.S. oilseed production for 2018/19 is forecast at 135.5 million tons, up slightly due to an increase for cottonseed...

USDA notes the following: Global 2018/19 oilseed production is forecast up 0.9 million tons to 600.5 million, with greater soybean production for Brazil an...

USDA notes the following about soybeans: Soybean supply and use projections for 2018/19 are unchanged from last month. With soybean exports and crush uncha...

China Apparently Deciding How Many U.S. Soybean to Import At their meeting in Buenos Aires, President Trump was able to get a commitment from President Xi...

USDA notes the following about Coarse Grains: This month’s 2018/19 U.S. corn outlook is for lower corn used for ethanol, reduced imports, and larger...

The December WASDE was unsurprisingly unsurprising. USDA literally changed nothing in the U.S. 2018/19 soybean balance sheet and made only modest adjustmen...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8475/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.21/bushel, down $0.0425 from yesterday's close.&nb...

In truth, there is not much to analyze in USDA’s December WASDE. It contained no changes in estimated U.S. yields or corn and soybean production leve...

USDA notes the following about wheat: The outlook for 2018/19 U.S. wheat this month is for unchanged supplies, lower exports, and higher ending stocks. Whe...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Middle East/North Africa (MENA) buyers of Ukraine’s wheat and corn are very concerned about the s...

Lighthizer Prevails U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer is one of four prominent names mentioned to become the next White House chief of sta...

The final draft of the 2018 Farm Bill conference agreement is likely to be released tomorrow, and a final vote could take place as soon as Wednesday (12 De...

USDA will release its December WASDE (supply and demand) estimates tomorrow for both the U.S. and the world. That wouldn’t be evident if only reading...

Following last week’s jump higher in corn, soybean, and wheat futures prices, the corn and soybean options markets continue to look for bullish price...

It was a quiet Sunday night opening with markets all slightly lower. Trading volume was also average or less both last night and today. The only difference...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.84/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.2525/bushel, down $0.06 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Soybeans Market Overview Last week was another that featured weaker Brazilian basis pushing levels lower with each passing day. The Chinese are waiting for...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was slightly firmer last week on slower farmer selling. Domestic prices in Russia were about $1-2MT higher, and the expo...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.855/bushel, up $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.3125/bushel, up $0.1575 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Immoderate Nutrition In 2010 the Obama administration sought to make the school lunch program comport with the government’s own nutrition guidelines...

The extremely wild gyrations in U.S. equity markets are a good indication that no one knows where the U.S./China trade dispute is headed as well as a sign...

It looks like the Senate Democrats have avoided a game of “musical chairs” for the ranking minority member spots on the Senate Agriculture Comm...

Cheap Turkish flour, which has plagued much of the world for the last decade, has found its way into the Caribbean. Haiti has been targeted, and the p...

India Oil Meal Exports Up  Oil meal exports of 2.043 MMT for April-November were almost 10 percent higher versus 1.855 MMT for the same period last ye...

• Wheat:  Net sales of 711,800 metric tons for 2018/2019 were up 89 percent from the previous week and 58 percent from the prior 4-week average.&...

The arrest in Vancouver, Canada of Meng Wanzhou, a high-ranking executive of giant Chinese cellular technology company Huawei, and her pending extradition...

Seeing a Rising Sun U.S. business groups have submitted to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) their wish list for a bilateral trade agreement with Japan...

U.S. Not Positioned to Export Many Soybeans to China Soon Canada’s arrest of Chinese tech giant Huawei’s CFO at the request of the U.S. has fur...

Global Situation Tomorrow USDA will release its updated monthly trade data through October. A running tally of the value to date tells the story of the glo...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8275/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.155/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.&n...

Every country in the world has a trade policy pertaining to whatever it imports or exports. The policy may be explicitly touted by its government or develo...

Ag markets and the U.S. energy/equity complex were all lower today with a fresh round of geopolitical concerns and no further clarification on the U.S.-Chi...

The overnight grain and soy futures session was quiet. Prices for soybeans, wheat and corn were a bit weaker with wheat being the softest. Basically, trade...

Shifting NAFTA Implications Trade consultant Dan Pearson notes that the USITC’s analysis (see Gambling Everything; 03 December) of the USMCA could in...

Russian Federation blocking Kerch Strait: Impacts on Foreign Trade, Political and Economic Outlook After 10 days of Russian blockage of the Kerch Strait in...

Trading was muted today with U.S. equity markets and the Federal government closed in remembrance of former President George H. W. Bush. The CME’s ag...

Policy Developments Trump Administration’s Premature Celebration Following a two-hour dinner with President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Argentin...

The U.S. government will be closed 5 December to honor the late George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States. Release of the government’...

Trump’s Chicken Contradiction The U.S. Supreme Court asked the Trump administration for its position on a lawsuit by 12 states challenging California...

In terms of publicity, the biggest news coming out of the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires late last week had nothing to do with that gathering. Instead, it con...

U.S.-China Trade Truce’s Impact on Soybeans Far from Clear Now that there is a 90-day trade truce between the U.S. and China, the U.S. and South Amer...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8475/bushel, up $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.225/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

The yield curve on Treasury bonds inverted during overnight trading, the first time this has occurred since 2007. The spread between three-year and five-ye...

Excitement over the weekend’s meetings between Trump and Xi cooled off in most markets today. Ag commodities survived better than others (see U.S. eq...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Grain importers in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region are concerned that Russia’s actions...

Soybeans Market Overview The market was basically at a standstill last week as traders awaited the outcome of the Trump-Xi meeting. No one expected big cha...

Amid the news of an agreement to restart China-U.S. trade talks, China’s undefined promise to buy more U.S. commodities and the anticipation as well...

China-U.S. Nothingburger If the written agreement between the EU’s Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Trump in July offered U.S. agriculture very little,...

The markets expected an explosive Sunday night market following the great news about the Saturday meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi that has led to a...

As would be expected, the options market reacted to the weekend’s trade war news by increasing its bullish outlook for corn, soybeans, and wheat. The...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.82/bushel, up $0.0425 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.2125/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close. ...

It turns out that the Saturday night dinner in Argentina between Presidents Trump and Xi met or exceeded most expectations, although to what degree depends...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week. The conflict in the Azov Sea did not significantly impact prices despite the loading...

Business and politics are not too different in that change is constant and adaptation is essential to survival. When commodity prices increase, the sector...

There were many impactful (and potentially impactful) policy developments that unfolded this week. Biofuel Required Volume Obligations (RVOs) - The EPA rel...

Soybeans and corn were all slightly higher overnight, led by 5-6 cent gains in soybeans. Markets opened stronger than that this morning and stayed that way...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7775/bushel, up $0.045 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1575/bushel, up $0.08 from yesterday's close. ...

All market analysis should probably be put on hold until sometime Saturday night after the tweets start to flow from Argentina following the serving of des...

Corn Prices Continue to Rise; Imports Required In the past 15 days, prices in the key corn production/consumption hubs have risen 6.7-9.6 percent and are 2...

Grain and soy prices were mostly lower overnight, although not greatly so considering the general strength across the board yesterday. The day session was...

Gilets Jaunes sont les Électeurs Trump The yellow vest movement in France has been a surprise to the French establishment, but to some degree it ref...

As trading of agricultural crop futures contracts evolved in the 19th century at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), there were futures markets for wheat, c...

Holiday Season Starts Strong With a pipeline full of protein, seasonal holiday demand started strong with Thanksgiving. As of 31 October, cold storage stoc...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7325/bushel, up $0 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.0775/bushel, down $0.0375 from yesterday's close. ...

New Hope for Trump-Xi Trade Deal in Buenos Aires President Trump departed today for Buenos Aires to attend the G-20 summit and meet with Chinese President...

Funds appeared to have covered what they want to of their short positions in the grains complex, which left corn, soybeans and wheat to drift lower into th...

WPI's monthly publication features analyses of U.S. agribusiness, the U.S. soybean crushing complex, the U.S. meat and livestock industry, the global outlo...

USDA reports: Wheat: Net sales of 377,100 metric tons for 2018/2019 were up 14 percent from the previous week, but down 25 percent from the prior 4-week a...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Sees Modest Decline Since the first full week of November, China’s nationwide soymeal inventory is up 25,500 MT as demand...

Soy and soy product futures prices were mostly firmer overnight as the market built on yesterday’s turnaround rally. Corn and wheat prices stayed nea...

China Assault Team More than 150 American companies and trade associations signed a letter calling on President Trump to reach an agreement this weekend wi...

Recent Developments in Ukraine Approximately 5 percent of the total grain exported from Ukraine is shipped from Mariupol and Berdiansk seaports in the Azov...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.605/bushel, up $0.04 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.115/bushel, up $0.05 from yesterday's close.  Ja...

The Closing Bell Wrap-Up may look slightly different today since it is coming to you from 30,000 feet while traveling to Reno, NV for the California Cattle...

Yesterday’s tough-talking rhetoric from President Trump, in which he said he planned to go ahead with additional tariffs on Chinese imports, was appa...

Trade War Calculations The market remains uncertain about the potential outcome from this coming weekend’s meeting between the leaders of China and t...

The news last Friday was dominated by the administration’s National Climate Assessment, a congressionally-mandated document and the fourth of its kin...

It is G-20 week in Buenos Aires, and the highly-anticipated side meeting between U.S. President Trump and Chinese President Xi slated for 30 November is ce...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.565/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.065/bushel, down $0.075 from yesterday's close. ...

The Closing Bell Wrap-Up is back from vacation, though it was actually a two-week period of focusing on WPI’s product lines and looking to the future...

Will Trump-Xi Meeting at G-20 Yield a Trade Agreement? Presidents Trump and Xi will meet on Saturday in Buenos Aires following the G-20 summit there. They...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Iran’s SLAL did not buy any barley in its 200,000 MT tender last week. While some say that financ...

The Senate is back in session today, and the House returns tomorrow. Congress will deal with unfinished legislative matters, but the administration also ha...

No Solution at G-20 Many are hoping that a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump at the end of this week at the G-20...

The wheat market can’t break out of its narrow trading range of three months despite some positive world wheat fundamentals. The problem is that the...

Soybeans Market Overview The soybean market remains very slow and almost at a standstill. China has been quiet these past few weeks, possibly even slower l...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.56/bushel, down $0.03 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.14/bushel, up $0.0675 from yesterday's close. ...

January SRW wheat and March corn options are pointing to increasingly bullish times ahead while soybean options traders move their chips to the bearish sid...

Markets opened Sunday evening with wheat 3-4 cents higher, corn up a penny and soybeans a penny lower. Overnight volume was much better than last week. Mar...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was slightly weaker last week. While Russia’s wheat stocks were reported to be 25 percent lower than on the same d...

Fake Solutions The EU’s 2017 report on intellectual property rights and customs enforcement finds that food products comprised nearly a quarter of th...

Wheat:  Net sales of 330,400 metric tons for 2018/2019 were down 25 percent from the previous week and 38 percent from the prior 4-week average. ...

A pair of Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives used the day before Thanksgiving to release a new proposal for Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.59/bushel, down $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.0725/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

The Thanksgiving holiday week closed with a day of very light trading volume and little interest in the markets. Following are a few news items from this w...

Trading volume in all markets was extremely light today, which is not surprising as it was a holiday-shortened session. This is also Black Friday, and ther...

Sensitive Sugar Situation in India India has so far contracted to export approximately 1 MMT of sugar against the government’s fixed target of 5 MMT...

There will be no Ag Perspectives report on Thursday (22 November) in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. WPI wishes all a wonderfu...

Russian Grain Markets: 12-16 November 2018 Prices on the domestic market moved in different directions. Meanwhile, the average milling wheat export price d...

U.S. trading offices were likely only half-staffed today and possibly less than that. It is always tempting to expand a Thursday holiday into a Wednesday-S...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6175/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $4.9875/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Exports have accounted for 25 percent of U.S. farm income, but that share will continue to fall. While China has taken about 25 percent of U.S. agricultura...

USDA reports U.S. Cattle on Feed up 3 percent on Nov 1 2018: Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capa...

Livestock China’s Domestic Poultry Surges as Hog Market Impacted by Illness According to data from China’s National Grain and Oil Information C...

With the U.S. stock market tanking again and worries over the global economy building, investors continued yesterday’s flight from risk. Nearly all c...

The EPA will likely release its Required Volume Obligations (RVOs) final rule for 2019 next week, prior to the 30 November deadline. While now being review...

Moral Approach to Trade Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee, is correct in his calculation that the EU w...

With the corn/soybean harvests in their final stage and the normal slowdown of a holiday week, the current markets may not generate much that deserves anal...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6125/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0075/bushel, up $0.0225 from yesterday's close.&nb...

Russian Meat Producer to Build Soybean Crush Plant  Russia’s largest meat producer, Cherkizovo, has announced its plans to build a large soybean...

Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS The government of Pakistan is expected to annou...

Soybeans The market was again slow last week with China absent as its trade war with the U.S. continues despite the expectations for talks between Presiden...

This is Thanksgiving week in the U.S., and the markets will be closed that day. However, this holiday has other implications such as the following: It is...

APEC’s Bad Omen While Beijing has reportedly responded in writing to Washington’s demand for specific trade reforms, the market should not plac...

The Sunday night markets opened almost exactly steady and traded that way for the first two to three hours. They then finished that session with wheat down...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was again stable last week. Russia finally received some long-awaited rains, and wheat conditions there have improved. I...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6225/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $4.985/bushel, down $0.0825 from yesterday's close.&...

As December options approach their expiration, the markets are reflecting the typical decrease in ATM IVs and increase in OTM IV values. Interestingly, Jan...

Ethanol exports are on track to set a record in 2018 and will likely top 1.6 billion gallons, approximately 10 percent of all production. However, robust s...

Coming Transatlantic Trade War EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström correctly said this week in Washington that she understands that including agri...

The elections have had their impact on Congress as well as the Senate and House Agriculture Committees (as previously noted). Perhaps the biggest changes,...

Many of the nation’s agricultural bankers were in Omaha this week for their annual conference. The media was also there interviewing anyone willing t...

It was another quiet night session Thursday evening with little price change in corn, wheat and soybean futures, and that dull pattern of trade didn’...

Wheat:  Net sales of 438,300 metric tons for 2018/2019 were down 34 percent from the previous week and 18 percent from the prior 4-week average. ...

Record NOPA Monthly Crush in October The National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) yesterday reported its members crushed 172.346 million bushels (4.6...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6475/bushel, down $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0675/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.&...

Corn Prices Remain Higher, Curbing Export Potential The government of India (GOI) estimated the khariff (October harvest) corn production at 21.47 MMT on 2...

The soybean market’s early rally on further reports of discussions on trade between high-level U.S. and Chinese officials helped pull the rest of the...

Cattle and Beef Outlook USDA revised its 2018 beef production forecast to 26.9 billion pounds, a decrease of 30 million pounds, as fewer fed cattle are exp...

Farm Bill Odds Various political analysts are placing better than 50/50 odds that the farm bill is approved during the current lame-duck session of the U.S...

The extent to which hope for a solution to the U.S.-China trade dispute has dominated the soybean market has been previously discussed here. Soybean future...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.675/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.055/bushel, up $0.025 from yesterday's close. ...

Russian Grain Markets: 5-9 November 2018 Milling wheat export prices were stable at an average $228/MT FOB Black Sea, and purchase prices at seaports grew...

Yesterday commodity markets were dominated by NYMEX crude oil’s precipitous decline, but today that market stabilized and actually closed a little hi...

Transatlantic Expectations EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström is in Washington to meet with her U.S. counterpart, Robert Lighthizer, and discuss...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.67/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.03/bushel, down $0.0475 from yesterday's close. ...

Livestock African Swine Fever Continues to Run Rampant Despite quarantines, incentives to cull herds impacted by sick animals, and harsh penalties administ...

Overnight trade reversed some of what occurred on Monday. Soybeans were higher, while grain prices were lower. Traders were chewing over news that U.S. Tre...

Only twice has a country filed a challenge in the WTO against another’s required notification of its domestic ag subsidies. The first was in May when...

False Rise of Small Ag More Democrats than Republicans take a populist view toward American agriculture, and that means the current capitalist system will...

For the past few weeks, the soybean futures market has been living largely on hope. At this writing, the January soybean contract is at $8.815, down 1.75 c...

European Rapeseed Plantings Down Sharply The head of the French Federation of Oilseed and Protein Crop Producers (FOP) indicated last week that the country...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.665/bushel, down $0.0475 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0775/bushel, down $0.12 from yesterday's close.&n...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Iran’s Chabahar port has been granted an exemption from the U.S. sanctions placed on that country...

Awkward Uniter By being antagonistic, U.S. President Donald Trump is awkwardly uniting the world. His earlier attacks on NAFTA managed to boost support for...

Today was the Veterans Day holiday in the U.S. The government was closed, but markets were open. The typical Monday USDA reports (e.g., weekly export inspe...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.7125/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.1975/bushel, up $0.1775 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

The January 2019 soybean futures chart (see below) clearly shows the steep price decline that occurred after China imposed a 25 percent duty on soybean imp...

The wheat market finally has vindication for its persistently bullish outlook after today’s futures rally. Corn options are settling into a neutral/r...

Soybeans Market Overview Chinese soybean demand remains slow, causing Brazilian basis to drop last week. Several exporters with long positions for nearby s...

It is now six days since the midterm elections, and several races still aren’t settled, including a few in the Senate of interest to the ag and food...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week. Russia continues to export about 1 MMT of wheat per week, and the total since the st...

The change in party control of the House will have impacts on the makeup of the House Agriculture Committee; some won’t be major, and other changes a...

Devilish Details Thoroughness in detail is both hard and time consuming. Whether laws or trade agreements are involved, politicians often find it too tedio...

Corn, wheat and soybeans were all lower overnight following yesterday’s negative response to the somewhat bullish U.S. corn and wheat WASDE numbers...