The August WASDE was filled with surprises compared with general expectations ahead of its release, and almost all either directly or indirectly concerned...

Things are bearish for ethanol producers despite a strong gasoline market. Ethanol margins are being squeezed to their lowest point in about six months, mo...

Rationalizing Pre-Existing Policy Chinese Vice Minister Han Jun boasted that in light of the trade war, his country can readily shift its sources for agric...

USDA surprised the markets last Friday by raising its corn and soybean yield estimates significantly from the June report. While increases weren’t un...

Markets were lower in the Sunday evening session as the hangover from last Friday’s bearish USDA corn and soybean numbers continued. The wheat number...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.705/bushel, down $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Sep 18 Wheat closed at $5.335/bushel, down $0.1325 from yesterday's close.&...

Soybeans China’s soybean demand remains at a standstill for all positions. Last week’s market activity (or lack thereof) was the same as it has...

Over the past two weeks, WPI has started publishing a weekly article containing Implied Volatility “smile” charts for key agricultural commodit...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was well supported last week. The bearish USDA WASDE report didn’t have a strong impact on the cash prices in Russ...

USDA’s August 2018 estimate is that soybean oil price is unchanged at 28.0 to 32.0 cents per pound. Lower soybean crush for China and rapeseed crush...

USDA’s August 2018 estimate is that crush is raised 10 million bushels to a record 2,040 million on strong soybean meal exports. The soybean meal pri...

USDA’s August 2018 estimate is U.S. soybean production at 4,586 million bushels, up 276 million on higher yields. The first survey-based soybean yiel...

Ethanol production nameplate capacity has exceeded 16 billion gallons, growing more than 700 million gallons or 5 percent from 2017 to 2018. The increase i...

USDA’s August 2018/19 estimate is for larger U.S. corn supplies, greater feed and residual use, increased exports, and larger ending stocks. Corn pro...

USDA’s August production and supply/demand estimates were (again) bearish for soybeans, neutral-to-bearish corn and slightly bullish wheat. Foll...

USDA’s August 2018 estimate is that U.S. wheat production is lowered 4 million bushels to 1,877 million on a slight reduction in winter wheat and dur...

Attacking Fake Food Claims Proactive work by the U.S. FDA has greatly helped the food industry while its inactions have harmed it. The GMO labeling debacle...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.7175/bushel, down $0.11 from yesterday's close.  Sep 18 Wheat closed at $5.4675/bushel, down $0.1775 from yesterday's close.&...

At the end of the day, it was all about what USDA had to say. That turned out to be another bearish report on corn and, especially, soybeans. The wheat num...

Sugar Prices Stable; Exports Not Feasible Even with the Merchandise Export from India Scheme (MEIS) export incentive of 7 percent, it is not possible to ma...

Overnight trade was quiet as expected with traders looking to reduce risk and position in preparation for tomorrow’s mid-session WASDE release. Wheat...

Make it Transparent There is no word at this hour as to the outcome of today’s bilateral trade talks between Japan and the U.S. The talks are proceed...

First Half 2018 Exports Up; Second Half TBD June export numbers show pork shipments down for the month but up for the first half of the year. There were ma...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.8275/bushel, down $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  Sep 18 Wheat closed at $5.645/bushel, down $0.055 from yesterday's close.&...

Commodity futures markets thrive on various forms of instant gratification that are capable of immediately moving market prices and providing trading oppor...

Grain and oilseeds did little ahead of tomorrow’s massively important WASDE while cattle futures closed lower on lack of cash market support. Hog fut...

USDA data for weekending August 2, 2018:  Wheat:  Net sales of 317,100 MT for 2018/2019 were down 17 percent from the previous week, but up 5 per...

Grain and soy futures traded quietly overnight with little fresh direction, and prices were mostly a bit higher. Much of the selling seemed to be liquidati...

Interstate Pig Rivalry Farmers receive some state-level protections from NIMBYism (not in my backyard) in that someone cannot generally move next to a farm...

Russian Grain Markets: 30 July-3 August 2018 Expecting international market prices to grow further, Russian grain traders limited their offer. Milling whea...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

Grains and oilseed futures were largely flat ahead of Friday’s WASDE report with wheat and soybeans finding small gains near the close. Cattle future...

Macro Trends U.S. Ag Exports Through First Half Of 2018 Show Impact of Tariffs While the effects of China’s trade war with the U.S. have primarily fo...

Grain and soy futures traded higher overnight. Support came from lower weekly crop condition ratings for corn, soybeans, and spring wheat and higher prices...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

Lucky Policymakers Former U.S. President Bill Clinton had his share of notoriety, but his political survival was based in part due to the fortune of a humm...

USDA will release its August WASDE at Noon EDT Friday, 10 August. The August WASDE is always highly anticipated since it includes NASS’ first estimat...

Grains and oilseeds traded a largely uneventful day while waiting for the USDA’s WASDE report on Friday. Livestock futures were lower with cattle fut...

Mediterranean/Middle East Comments Egypt reports that current wheat reserves will cover its needs for the next four months. Wheat import purchases are fore...

The ongoing conference in Indonesia organized by the U.S. Soybean Export Council and the U.S. Grains Council has featured major discussions about the outlo...

In the complex dynamics of the global economy, it is sometimes difficult to discern what is cause and what is effect. Not surprisingly, however, the Chines...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

U.S. wheat futures have rallied and exceeded their most recent highs set in June 2017. Chicago December wheat is back pushing against the $6.00 level today...

Soybeans were lower overnight with wheat and corn slightly higher. That was also today’s pattern, except that wheat found good buying soon after toda...

China’s Burdens The U.S.-China trade war is causing causalities on both sides, and following are a sample of China’s.  Some Chinese are be...

Soybeans Last week was another boring one for soybean trading. Brazil’s market is at a standstill with almost no trades, despite some cargoes for Sep...

As noted last week, WPI is starting a new weekly report on the IV “smile” of nearby corn, soybeans, SRW wheat, and live cattle futures. Our goa...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market was extremely firm last week with domestic market prices in South Russia $9/MT higher while the FOB market rose $1...

On 29 June, the EPA’s Office of Research and Development issued the Second Triennial Report to Congress on Biofuels and the Environment. The report r...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

Trade War Spin In addition to announcing that it will respond to U.S. tariffs with more duties on American goods, Chinese Commerce Minister Zhong Shan said...

It was an interesting week in the markets and it appears the coming weeks and months will also prove to be much more interesting than the last several year...

Markets traded mixed overnight with corn, wheat and soybeans all trading both sides of unchanged. Corn traded from three higher to one lower. Wheat traded...

Congress has a lot to do and a short time to do it. First, the timeline: the fiscal year ends on 30 September, and then about 60 days later, on 6 November,...

Vegetable Oil Imports via South Asian Countries India’s edible vegetable oil imports dropped about 2.23 percent during November 2017-June 2018 to 9.4...

President Trump has called for 25 percent tariffs on another $200 billion of Chinese imports, possibly as early as late September, and this has thrown a we...

There are two analytical common threads dominating discussions of the world’s 2018/19 crop cycle thus far. One is the rather spectacular tightening o...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

U.S.-Sino Tipping Point The Trump administration’s plan to increase the proposed Section 301 tariffs from 10 percent to 25 percent on $200 billion wo...

USDA Secretary Perdue sliced an American honey-baked ham in Buenos Aires on Tuesday to mark the new market access for U.S. pork in Argentina. He said, &ldq...

According to USDA: Wheat:  Net sales of 382,500 MT for 2018/2019 were down 1 percent from the previous week, but up 21 percent from the prior 4-week...

Higher Costs and Lower Profits for Brazilian Soybean Farmers in 2019 An analyst at Brazil’s investing banking firm Itaú BBA, Guilherme Bellott...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

Yesterday’s big soybean rally was sponsored by a press report indicating the possibility that the U.S. and China might resume a formal discussion on...

Russian Grain Markets: 23-27 July 2018 Wheat and barley export prices grew as the offer was limited. (Quoted prices are for both the 2018 and previous seas...

The wheat market continued to work its way higher while corn and soybeans retreated lower after yesterday’s gains. Nobody seems to know where the whe...

On Tuesday, the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA) reported May biodiesel production of 149 million gallons, 9 million gallon above April and up...

The Trump administration’s announcement last week of a $12 billion-aid package for struggling farmers impacted by Chinese retaliatory tariffs on U.S...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Up Slightly but Relatively Stable With the summer maintenance period beginning to wind down, China’s estimated soymeal inv...

Grain and soy prices firmed overnight as the leading weather models indicated the return of above-normal temperatures and dry conditions to portions of the...

Last Friday the Department of Commerce released its initial gross domestic product (GDP) report for Q2 2018, which showed estimated growth of 4.1 percent...

Naha Tug-of-Trade U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer and Japanese Economic and Fiscal Policy Minister Toshimitsu Motegi meet next week (9 August)...

We often say that uncertainty is the lifeblood of commodity futures markets. The greater its perceived level, the greater is the degree of price volatility...

Russia’s Growing Soybean Demand, Production and Imports For the past several years, Russia has been working aggressively to expand its domestic produ...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

You knew it had to happen again someday and that day was today. Soybean futures led the CBOT higher (higher!) after reports surfaced that the U.S. and Chin...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS The Moroccan government says that crops for 2017/18 are “exceptional” with grain production...

November CBOT soybean futures are 21 cents (2.3 percent) higher as the market digests reports from Bloomberg (yet confirmed by WPI or other news sources) t...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

China Rebuts U.S. China’s ambassador to the WTO, Zhang Xiangchen, had clever reactions to the U.S. criticism of his nation’s economic system, b...

Markets started this week on a very strong note. Last week’s rally was mostly the result of concerns about crop production in the EU and Black Sea re...

Despite the recent U.S. tariffs slowing two-way trade traffic, the otherwise booming economy has pushed diesel supplies down to their lowest level in 14 ye...

Markets were higher overnight. They were led again by wheat, which then exploded to gains of 15-20 cents at this morning’s openings. Corn and soybean...

Beyond acting as a price discovery and risk management tool, options on commodity futures have predictive power. The implied volatility (IV) of an option r...

Soybeans The world soybean markets are still dead, including Brazil’s. Chinse demand is covered for August and most of September, leaving potential d...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market is on fire. The reported harvest yields are confirming expectations that they would be 15-20 percent lower than last yea...

The Future Transatlantic Trade War Following the joint EU-U.S. statement solely asserting the “intention” to negotiate a future trade agreement...

In Iowa yesterday, President Trump said the administration is “very close” to granting a year-round waiver for E15 usage. This confirms what he...

Changes in Commodity Analytics’ short-term technical indicators for grain futures should be carefully examined against long-term signals. Elsewhere,...

Markets were mixed overnight and today. Volume was very light  for corn and soybeans but better than average for Chicago wheat. The markets actually t...

It’s been an interesting week with the following highlights: - USDA’s $12 billion farm rescue plan (income redistribution) didn’t find ma...

Glut Supply of Milk Prompts GOI to Offer Export Incentive When the state government of Maharashtra reduced the the cooperatives’ purchase price of mi...

News that the U.S. and the EU pulled back from a potentially escalating trade war gave financial markets a boost late yesterday, and the agreements between...

Beans and Gas The EU agreed to buy more soybeans and liquified natural gas (LNG) from the U.S. Nothing reflects the EU better playing Trump for a fool than...

Trade isn’t Cattlemen’s Only Beef  We’ve covered in detail the administration’s $12 billion plan to stabilize commodity market...

 Europe’s Promise to Import More U.S. Soybeans a Nothingburger When EU President Juncker met with President Trump yesterday to seek a way to avo...

"Volatility" was the word of the day at the CBOT with wheat futures initially pushing higher before crashing, corn and soybeans moving higher, and the live...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

WPI's monthly publication features analyses of the U.S. grain industry, U.S. soybean marketing strategies, the U.S. biofuels industry, the global outlook f...

U.S. corn exports deviation from historic patterns has implications for what exports will be in the rest of the marketing year. Analysis of unshipped corn...

For countries that supply renewable agricultural commodities to world buyers, a more perfect world occurs during a year when global demand for a particular...

The agreement between EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker and U.S. President Donald Trump may be like the earlier Kim Jong-un/Donald Trump agreemen...

The sharp jump in world wheat prices on the back of wheat production losses in Russia, the EU, Australia and elsewhere along with the government’s $1...

Juncker-Trump Tête-à-Tête U.S. President Donald Trump opened his meeting with EU Commission President Jean-Claude Juncker today by sayin...

Russian Grain Markets: 16-20 July 2018 The domestic grain market was dominated by new crop production. Although harvesting in many regions was interrupted...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

Hard times in the European wheat crop sent wheat markets into a buying frenzy that pulled corn higher as well. EU wheat futures closed 2.8 percent higher y...

In the most recent NASS Crop Progress report, soybean crop condition ratings rose slightly during the week ending 22 July. Those in the reporting states ra...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Declines Again as Crush Rate Falls With summer in full swing, many soybean crushers have suspended operations for routine season...

The promised program to aid farmers hurt by the trade conflict with China and others will be $12 billion, according to USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue at a pre...

Spinning Trade Mitigation Funds USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue originally said he would decide on a trade war bailout package around Labor Day (3 September),...

USDA raised its estimate of U.S. corn exports in 2017/18 to 2.4 billion bushels in the July WASDE. This increase was based on the large volume of open unsh...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

Trading was mixed at the CBOT with soybeans jumping higher on Presidential news of financial aid for farmers and corn declining on excellent conditions rat...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Egypt has announced that Dubai-based AOS has been removed from the list of wheat sellers on government...

This afternoon USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue had a press briefing about the administration’s package of market stabilization actions intended to addres...

Chinese Soy Crusher Files for Bankruptcy The Chinese firm Shandong Sunrise Group, a soybean importer and processor as well as an independent petroleum refi...

The chatter surrounding the markets today was interesting. The bullish stories discussed the shrinking wheat and feed grain crops in the EU, and that inclu...

Trade Policy This Week Capitol Hill: Congressional hearings this week on U.S. trade policy under President Trump will offer insights on relative political...

It was a very quiet Sunday night session across soybeans, wheat and corn. The markets finished with corn up 1 cent, beans steady, Chicago wheat 3 cents hig...

Soybeans Global soybean markets have been quiet these past few weeks with trading houses very cautious since any agreement between the U.S. and China could...

Changes in Commodity Analytics’ short-term technical indicators for grain futures should be carefully examined against long-term signals. Elsewhere,...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market is very firm. Demand for Russian wheat is increasing every day, and we hear rumors that even Germany will import some du...

The cattle on feed inventory set a new record for the month of July at 11.3 million head. The 1 July total was down 300,00 head from the 1 June inventory b...

Subsidiarity Economic Cost The effort to harmonize rules across the EU helped spawn separatist political movements, including the largest one, Brexit. Now...

Treasury securities are one of the safest investments in times of economic chaos. Proof of that in the havoc over the present trade disputes may be the cur...

Markets were steady to slightly higher overnight, but the wheat markets took off higher again this morning. KC and Chicago traded gains of 10-15 cents most...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

U.S. Cattle on Feed Up 4 Percent. This is the highest July 1 inventory since the series began in 1996. Heifers and heifer calves accounted for 4.15 million...

Increased Sugarcane Prices a Double Blow for the Sugar Industry As this is an election year, the government must please farmers, the backbone of the Indian...

U.S. wheat fundamentals have been improving quickly over the past several months, although this wouldn’t be apparent by looking at prices. Some of th...

Cattle on Feed Tomorrow USDA will release its monthly Cattle on Feed report. Pre-report estimates from the industry peg the total number of cattle on feed...

The quietude of yesterday’s grain and soy futures markets continued in the overnight trading session. Volume and price movement were limited with not...

China Hit Worst Like the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF’s) assessment on a global basis, the Asian Development Bank this week kept its curr...

Corn and soybeans continued their quiet rallies while wheat futures popped higher in a bullish, Russian-weather-fueled trading day. Cattle futures were cau...

In today’s USDA/FAS export sales report for the week ended 12 July, there were a few interesting items deserving of some comment. Among them were the...

Higher Week for U.S. Soy Exports Today’s USDA export sales report indicated higher sales last week for U.S. soybeans and soymeal, particularly for th...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

Commodity Analytics shows the most recent data for grain export sales and shipments along with historic patterns. Current deviations from historic norms po...

After featuring active trade and higher prices on Monday and Tuesday, grain and soybean markets paused to catch their breath today. Volume was restrained,...

Trading Barbs WTO: There is a special Agriculture Committee meeting at the WTO next week, and the disparate views of its members are being previewed ahead...

Russian Grain Markets: 9-13 July 2018 The domestic grain market was influenced by different trends as new crop production started being traded along with t...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

Grains traded a quiet, mixed session while cattle futures moved sharply higher ahead of this week’s fundamental reports. Hog futures, of course, put...

The National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) reported on Monday that members crushed 159.2 million bushels of soybeans during June, a record for the...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Declines as Crushers Dial Back Activity With the tariff on U.S. soybeans becoming effective on 6 July, feed demand has remained...

Grain and soy prices firmed overnight, in part because USDA dropped weekly condition ratings for corn and soybeans further than the trade expected. Another...

War Nears End Senate Finance Committee Chairman Orrin Hatch (R-Utah) said today that if President Trump continues with his “misguided and reckless re...

The fundamentals are kicking in and pulling CBOT products higher. Spotty growing conditions across the Midwest, including reports of both drought and drown...

It has been a tumultuous three months for grain and soy markets, which have been roiled by the Trump administration’s aggressive “take no priso...

Changes in Commodity Analytics’ short-term technical indicators for grain futures should be carefully examined against long-term signals. Elsewhere,...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Egypt’s government is said to be disappointed in the country’s wheat production as it repor...

Last week’s WASDE report made several major changes in USDA’s forecasts for the soybean sector. The most important ones were related to the 25...

There has been a great deal of conversation over the past several weeks about the possibility that U.S. corn and soybean yields might be much better than c...

Trade War Language Us versus them, me (America First) and we. Donald Trump called the EU a foe this past weekend. He says he meant it in terms of competito...

Markets traded most of the Sunday night session slightly lower before finishing steady in corn and soybeans but down 2-4 cents in wheat. However, corn and...

Soybeans Market Overview The first week of the official U.S.-China trade war was very calm. With crush margins currently poor (using Brazilian soybeans), t...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was weaker during most of last week due to harvest pressure. However, the downtrend was reversed on Thursday after publi...

Food definitions are an emerging policy topic. The dairy industry doesn’t like the term soymilk, and the rice industry is concerned about the marketi...

Doing Good to Be Bad Four large food companies (Danone, Mars, Nestle and Unilever) have formed the Sustainable Food Policy Alliance, which will focus on pr...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

Today is Friday the 13th, and the week ended accordingly. Soybeans were down again overnight and continued lower today. Corn joined soybeans, while wheat w...

Ethanol Policy Changes May Not Ease Pressure on Sugar Sector Immediately Changes in ethanol prices, including that of B-Heavy molasses as an input for maki...

Not frequently discussed in the turmoil about trade sanctions is the energy sector. The three countries with which the U.S. is currently engaged in trade d...

This week’s USDA WASDE and production estimates were not quite as bearish as they might have been for the following reasons: The corn and soybean yi...

While awaiting today’s WASDE, grains and soy markets traded a bit higher overnight as they tried to recover at least a small portion of yesterday&rsq...

Key Oilseed Highlights in USDA WASDE Report To say USDA made major changes to its supply and distribution forecasts for the soybean sector in today’s...

Trade like NATO U.S. Agricultural Trade Ambassador Gregg Doud says there is a difference between countries willing to make commitments and those actually m...

Thanks to USDA’s effort to project the effect of the Chinese tariffs on the U.S. soybean supply/demand for 2017/18 and 2018/19 as well as the expecte...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

The July WASDE came out bullish corn and wheat while bearish U.S. soybeans. World wheat ending stocks are forecast 4.6 percent less than last year while co...

Mexico Looks to Brazil Last March Mexico suspended all imports of meat and poultry from Brazil in response to the Carne Fraca meat inspection scandal. This...

Weekly export sales materials are undated with USDA's latest annual estimates for The United States - published 12 July 2018: Those U.S. export estimates a...

Total global 2018/19 oilseed production is down 1.4 million tons to 592.6 million with a 4.3-million-ton increase for soybean production offset by lower ra...

Soybean crush for 2018/19 is raised 45 million bushels to 2.045 billion reflecting an increase in projected soybean meal domestic disappearance and exports...

This month’s U.S. soybean supply and use projections for 2018/19 include lower supplies, lower exports, higher crush, and higher ending stocks. Begin...

According to USDA, this month’s 2018/19 U.S. corn outlook is for larger supplies, greater feed and residual use, increased exports, and lower ending...

Projected U.S. 2018/19 wheat supplies are raised 74 million bushels on increased beginning stocks and higher production. Forecast 2018/19 U.S. wheat produc...

The bell to start the next round of the escalating U.S. trade scuffle with China rang late last evening with news that the Trump administration is preparin...

Not “Impossible” Following the Trump-driven upheaval at last month’s G-7 meeting, no one was surprised when he did the same at this week&...

Russian Grain Markets: 2-6 July 2018 Following the usual seasonal trends, domestic grain prices decreased. However, they fell at a less dramatic rate than...

It was a day of red at the CBOT with corn and soybeans marking new contract lows and Chicago wheat breaking below key support. MGEX HRS wheat found support...

Changes in Commodity Analytics’ short-term technical indicators for grain futures should be carefully examined against long-term signals. Elsewhere,...

The Malaysian Palm Oil Board’s (MPOB’s) monthly report indicated that stocks rose in June following contra-seasonal decreases over the last fiv...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Climbs Higher Ahead of Tariffs Continuing the trend that began in the second week of June, China’s crushing companies stea...

Overnight trading pushed corn and soybean prices mildly lower with more pronounced weakness in wheat. Good weather, high weekly crop condition ratings and...

Cash Distortions The U.S. International Trade Commission ruled today that olive imports from Europe are injuring domestic producers. Antidumping/countervai...

The thorniest political problem yet in completing a farm bill conference between the House and Senate this summer is the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

 Following are a few thought-provoking items: The corn, soybean and spring wheat crops are off to a great start despite weather that has not been ent...

Grain and oilseed markets were mixed/lower today with wheat futures crumbling, corn posting new contract lows, and soybeans unable to establish market dire...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Hoboob, the Syrian grain agency, has reportedly bought 200,000 MT of soft wheat at $195/MT CNF. The sal...

With the trade war officially underway, China is now assessing a 28 percent duty on imports of U.S. soybeans (the 25 percent retaliatory tariff plus the 3...

USDA will release its updated U.S. and world production estimates at 12 p.m. (EDT) Thursday. Those for U.S. corn and soybeans will be larger than in the pr...

Trade War Hyperbole Equity markets around the world traded higher today even as pundits and newspaper headlines wailed about the trade war. Beijing will ge...

The trade worries won’t go away. Even though markets ignored the imposition of tariffs last Friday, they were back to selling today in relatively lig...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

The House and Senate will appoint conferees to the farm bill conference committee this week and begin work on a compromise final version. Based on Congress...

Soybeans As has been widely reported, the U.S. imposed tariffs on specific Chinese imports on 6 July, and China reciprocated with retaliatory tariffs on so...

Milling Wheat The price of Russian and Ukrainian wheat for July/August shipment remained about unchanged last week. Offers for deferred positions are diffi...

As Congress returns from the 4th of July recess next week, the House will be in session for three weeks prior to the August break. However, the Senate is (...

U.S. agriculture dislikes being the tip of the spear in Donald Trump’s trade war fight, but the industry’s intermediaries in Washington are far...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

U.S. soybean, corn and wheat markets finished the night session up 1-2 cents despite the U.S./China trade war becoming a reality overnight. However, the so...

Ban on Yellow Pea Imports Extended for Three Months India’s Ministry of Commerce has extended the ban on yellow pea imports, first implemented in lat...

Buying support is flooding into the soybean market an hour before the closing bell on a day that saw the official start of the U.S.-China trade war. Novemb...

Today is D-Day for the imposition of tariffs, and the U.S. implemented them on $34 billion worth of goods from China. That country then quickly followed su...

Changes in U.S. market share for global soyoil exports, along with those of soymeal, are analyzed. Results offer insight into the opportunities U.S. export...

Today’s post-holiday market was not the frenzied affair that sometimes follows the 4th of July. There was no overnight session (due to the holiday),...

Tariffs, but It’s NTBs Additional retaliatory tariffs were applied by Mexico today, and another round of U.S. tariffs will be applied to China at the...

Endangered Species Act Reform  On 2 July, Senate Environment and Public Works Committee Chairman John Barrasso (R-Wyoming) introduced the Endangered S...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

Today is T-Day minus one, which is another way of saying that tomorrow, 6 July, is when the U.S. will impose 25 percent tariffs on $34 billion worth of Chi...

Grains and oilseed markets defied their traditional post-4th of July fireworks and simply did nothing today. Wheat was the exception, rising 20 cents, whil...

India Raises Minimum Support Price for Oilseeds and Other Crops The government of India (GOI)yesterday announced new higher minimum support prices (MSPs) f...

Please note that Ag Perspectives will not be published tomorrow in observance of the 4th of July holiday in the United States.  We will resume ou...

USDA will release its monthly WASDE report next week on 12 July. This will be the first to include the tariffs in effect on U.S. ag exports to Canada and M...

CME grain and soy markets closed early today for the U.S. holiday and will not reopen until 9:30 a.m. (EDT) Thursday. They are often quite volatile on the...

Changes in Commodity Analytics’ short-term technical indicators for grain futures should be carefully examined against long-term signals. Elsewhere,...

Aside from being the U.S. Independence Day holiday, the 4th of July is traditionally considered to be a key point in the development of spring-planted crop...

Agro-Energy Trade Remedy U.S. agriculture is being hurt by retaliation from other countries that have been targeted by the Trump administration’s tra...

Is China Preparing to Reduce Total Soybean Imports? USDA is currently forecasting China’s 2018/19 soybean imports at 103 MMT, up from 97 MMT in 2017/...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS It is reported in Egypt that 45,000 MT of Russian wheat were seized from local storage due to infestati...

In January 1980, President Carter decided to punish Russia for invading Afghanistan. That action left U.S. grain companies holding sales on the books to Ru...

NAFTA: Mexico elected leftist Andrés Manuel López Obrador as president. He promises to make his country more self-sufficient in food, but his...

Markets were steady to slightly higher in the Sunday night session, but that steady pattern disappeared when the markets opened this morning with steep los...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

Soybeans Brazil After a few quiet weeks, demand from China moved again. Much improved gross crushing margins there (above $25/MT) prompted crushers to buy...

The Senate passed the farm bill late last Thursday night by a vote of 86-11 with bipartisan support. In fact, more Democrats than Republicans voted for it...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week after several consecutive weeks of declining prices. The Russian crop is estimated to...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

EU leaders made great strides yesterday in their efforts to deal with a multitude of challenges, although few of the outcomes appear to be a panacea. Refug...

USDA released its quarterly Hogs and Pigs report yesterday, confirming herd expansion and containing a number of records. The total inventory of hogs and p...

Markets traded just slightly better overnight and found additional buying ahead of the USDA reports this morning. Wheat markets led the pre-report rally, t...

USDA released its revised acreage and 1 June quarterly stocks estimates at 12 p.m.(EDT) today. The acreage numbers for corn and spring wheat were slightly...

Falling Rupee and Higher Input Costs Make Agriculture a Tough Choice Two developments that the government of India (GOI) had not anticipated are higher cru...

It is the last full trading day before the sometimes-eventful June planting and quarterly stocks report. Based on the average trade estimates of acreage an...

Fixing Farm Supports The best defense is an offense, and China and India are demanding that the rich countries reduce their farm support payments. The dema...

6 July is the date when the U.S. will impose its first round of tariffs on imports from China and that country will retaliate with its own 25 percent tarif...

Biotech Company to Develop High-Protein Soybeans and Other Crops Amfora, a San Francisco-based biotech company, today announced it is going to employ a pat...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

U.S. corn exports deviation from historic patterns has implications for what exports will be in the rest of the marketing year. Analysis of unshipped corn...

Grains traded quietly today with few traders willing to take, or build upon, positions ahead of Friday’s reports. Livestock futures were higher on sh...

WPI's monthly publication features analyses of the U.S. grain industry, U.S. soybean marketing strategies, the U.S. meat industry, the global outlook for f...

Hogs and Pigs Report Coming  USDA will release its quarterly hogs and pigs inventory report after trading closes today. The inventory as of 1 June is...

After having announced them earlier, the Trump administration late Tuesday apparently decided not to impose special restrictions on Chinese investments in/...

Trade Fight Dustup Constituencies impacted by retaliatory tariffs imposed by other countries are starting to doubt the wisdom of Trump trade policy. The bu...

Changes in Commodity Analytics’ short-term technical indicators for grain futures should be carefully examined against long-term signals. Elsewhere,...

Russian Grain Markets: 18-22 June 2018 Domestic prices were influenced by the first offers of 2018 grain entering the market, mainly winter barley. However...

CBOT products bounced higher today as the Trump Administration confirmed it is backing away from new restrictions in investment and intellectual property p...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventories Surge Significantly Across China Soymeal stocks rose significantly countrywide except for a drop of 6,900 MT (-8.36 percent) t...

Overnight trading was a quiet, low volume affair with only limited price changes for grains and the soy complex. As the day session progressed, however, wh...

It has been a busy policy day for agriculture with the EPA’s release of the proposed biofuel volumes for 2019 and the Senate taking up the farm bill...

Ag Subsidies Reform China and India are asking the WTO to immediately reduce the Amber Box agricultural subsidies that have been historically utilized by t...

As always, grain and soy markets along with those who trade in those commodities are looking ahead at several factors with the potential to move prices. Cu...

Grains markets were mostly steady/weaker today with soybeans and wheat falling once again and corn posting small gains. There is growing harvest pressure i...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS At least 10 shipments of wheat (totaling 170,000 MT) have been delivered to Syria over the past 10 mont...

China Eliminates Animal Feed Tariffs for Five Countries The Chinese government announced today that it will eliminate tariffs on imports of soybeans, soyme...

Disparate Adjustments Trade uncertainty is hitting everyone. China will reportedly flush its state-owned enterprises with cash, which may not improve their...

USDA’s July estimate of U.S. hard red winter wheat production will likely be lower. We (and others) assume the Kansas harvested acreage number will b...

Markets were all lower overnight, and that pattern accelerated throughout today’s session with wheat, corn and soybeans all suffering big losses at t...

The 1 June cattle on feed (COF) inventory set a new June record at 11.6 million head. That was down slightly from the previous month, which was the second-...

Changes in Commodity Analytics’ short-term technical indicators for grain futures should be carefully examined against long-term signals. Elsewhere,...

Soybeans Brazil Brazil’s soybean market was quiet last week compared with after the U.S.-China trade war announcement when buyers became nervous and...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was weaker last week due to the approaching harvest and pressure on the futures markets in the EU and U.S. The weather i...

Battlefront Reporting Another day and more news on the trade war front. On the first day of new retaliatory tariffs by the EU on U.S. goods, German automak...

It was a peaceful night session with corn and wheat showing very little change. Meanwhile, soybeans were 7-8 cents higher with meal up $2.00-3.00. Markets...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

United States Cattle on Feed on June 1, 2018 was up 4 percent above year ago.  Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter in U.S. feedlots with capac...

This could be the day the EPA issues the Required Volume Obligations (RVOs) proposal for ethanol use in 2019 and biodiesel use in 2020. It would be subject...

Falling Soymeal Prices May Move Up if Exports Continue Soybean and soymeal prices moved lower last week but had some upward movement near its end, and they...

Markets have been obsessed with the failure of the U.S. and China to reach any sort of agreement regarding their trade dispute. In fact, it’s not eve...

Welcome to summer! Led by soybeans, which eased about 6 cents lower, trading during the overnight session found prices with a lower bias. The grains were m...

Trade War Endgame Starting the trade war was “easy” for Mr. Trump, sustaining it will become more difficult for domestic political reasons. Tha...

Cattle on Feed  Industry pre-report estimates for tomorrow’s Cattle on Feed report from USDA peg the total number of cattle on feed as of 1 June...

Falling Palm Oil Prices Reach Two-Year Low Palm oil prices are declining because of anemic demand and the market turmoil caused by the U.S.-China trade dis...

Grain and soy markets are almost totally consumed by trade disruption and the latest trade war threats voiced in Washington and Beijing. They note retaliat...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

Markets paused today to reassess the probable outcomes of the U.S.-China trade war. Corn and wheat found some buying support while soybeans remained on the...

Commodity Analytics shows the most recent data for grain export sales and shipments along with historic patterns. Current deviations from historic norms po...

After trade war fears sank grain and soy futures yesterday, the overnight session opened cautiously. Prices edged a bit higher, but trading was tentative a...

Russian Grain Markets: 11-15 June 2018 Domestic grain prices were influenced by the near beginning of the new season. Although the formation of new prices...

Changes in Commodity Analytics’ short-term technical indicators for grain futures should be carefully examined against long-term signals. Elsewhere,...

The Closing Bell Wrap-Up has finally returned from traveling the past few weeks. And what an exciting few weeks it has been. Trump and China started playin...

Predictable Trade War After the Shanghai Composite Index plunged in value, the headlines say that the Chinese were “caught off guard” by Presid...

Policy Developments Will China Ultimately Retaliate? Coming on the heels of President Trump’s announcement last week confirming that his administrati...

Soybean and grain futures prices were lower to open the overnight session, and losses grew as trading progressed into the early morning. Understandably, so...

Yesterday President Trump asked the U.S. Trade Representative to identify $200 billion worth of Chinese goods for additional tariffs at a rate of 10 percen...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

Trade wars invariably involve government actions intended to impede, punish or prevent imports and exports of goods between two or more countries. The most...

Chinese Tariffs Impact on Upper Midwest Soybean Farmers Barring a settlement to the current trade dispute, China is expected to impose a 25 percent tariff...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS As part of its budget control measures, Egypt has announced price increases of 35-40 percent for gasoli...

Illogical War One can imagine more sophisticated approaches to rebalancing trade concessions than the one undertaken by the Trump administration. The presi...

The imposition of trade tariffs on imports from China and that country’s corresponding retaliation against imports from the U.S. have had a profoundl...

As expected, the Federal Reserve Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) raised the federal funds rate last week by another 25 basis points to a target range...

Soybeans Impact of the U.S.-China Trade War Trading was slow in Brazil last week with an old-crop basis rally due to lack of farmer selling and news on the...

Corn and wheat opened lower Sunday with soybeans slightly higher. Everything was slightly lower by the time markets closed this morning, and that is how th...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market had a weaker tone last week with the new crop harvest approaching and as export commitments for the first quarter of the...

Trade War Chapters Three and Four President Trump’s “easy to win” trade war is heating up, and U.S. farm groups are beginning to push bac...

As clients will recall, the House farm bill was sunk in May on a vote of 198-213. No Democrats voted for it due to the work requirement reforms pertaining...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

There probably isn’t much point in talking about fundamental issues surrounding the grain and oilseed markets as very little has changed in that rega...

Ethanol Production Up; Prices Nose-Dive  As noted in earlier reports, India’s sugar production in sugar year 2017/18 (November-October) is expec...

This week’s WASDE report from USDA was considered slightly bullish for prices, although that certainly wasn’t apparent by the market’s ac...

The rout continues. Grains and soy complex futures prices fell again overnight, and they continued to drop throughout the day session. Interestingly, corn...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

Roadblock Italy The new Italian government says it will not ratify the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) between the EU and Canada. It is a...

Farm Bill Livestock Provisions The Senate Agriculture Committee made short work of the 2018 Farm Bill markup yesterday. A total of 66 amendments (slightly...

China Sells Reserve Soybeans China’s National Grain Trade Center today announced the government sold 192,324 MT of reserve stock soybeans at auction...

These days it may seem as though grain markets have little else to consider beyond the U.S./Chinese trade dispute and its potential ramifications. We proba...

Wheat export sales data begins the new 2018/19 marketing year. Corn net sales of 936,400 MT for 2017/2018 were up 12 percent from the previous week and 2 p...

Russian Grain Markets: 4-8 June 2018 Domestic grain prices on the Russian market mostly grew. Meanwhile, export prices mainly dropped as 2018 production st...

FB: Boring Bipartisanship The Senate Agriculture Committee approved its farm bill proposal by a vote of 20-1. Only Iowa Republican Senator Chuck Grassley v...

Grain and soy futures started out firmer on follow-through from yesterday’s post-report rally. However, that did not last long. The market’s at...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

Policy Developments China Sets Stage for Sourcing New Feedstuffs When China’s central government closed out May with a public declaration in support...

The overnight market did not seem to know how to take the results of the Trump/Kim Jong Un meeting in Singapore. It ended with an announced agreement to de...

With the Senate Agriculture Committee’s markup of the farm bill tomorrow morning, a number of amendments are being prepared. This includes one from S...

The 2018/19 season-average price for soybean oil prices is projected at 29.5 to 33.5 cents per pound. The 2018/19 global oilseed supply and demand forecast...

Higher soybean meal domestic disappearance reflects stronger-than-expected use for the marketing year through April. Soybean meal exports are raised based...

U.S.-Canada Road Forward Donald Trump initially thought that U.S. agriculture was a problem for him since the sector was so paranoid about trade retaliatio...

USDA estimates this month that U.S. soybean supply and use projections for 2018/19 will include lower beginning stocks, slightly higher crush, and lower en...

June WASDEs typically provide few surprises and little market movement. Taken individually, not one of USDA’s new estimates and projections is very s...

USDA noted that export inspection data for the month of May implies continued robust global demand for U.S. corn, while old crop outstanding sales at this...

USDA estimates that World 2018/19 wheat supplies decrease this month by 1.2 million tons. Production declines in Russia, the EU, and Mexico did not fully o...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

Brazil’s Conab Raises Soybean Crop Estimate Conab, Brazil’s crop supply agency, today raised its estimate for that country’s 2018 soybean...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Syria and Russia are said to be developing a shipping route between Tartus, Syria and Sebastopol, Crime...

One month ago today, the EPA sent its proposed rule for the 2019 Required Volume Obligations (RVOs) for biofuel use to the Office of Management and Budget...

G6 Decision The G7 meeting did not go well - at least from everyone’s perspective except Donald Trump’s. It went exactly as he expected and int...

USDA will release its June WASDE (supply/demand) report tomorrow. Will there be any substantive surprises in tomorrow’s numbers? That is doubtful. It...

Markets were relatively quiet Sunday night, but corn and soybeans turned decidedly weaker today to finish with big losses. Funds started this week long eve...

Soybeans Brazil The Brazilian market was slow last week. As it has been all year, the real was one of the big factors. The currency has been showing a huge...

Changes in Commodity Analytics’ short-term technical indicators for grain futures should be carefully examined against long-term signals. Elsewhere,...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week. The focus is on the new crop conditions in Russia and Ukraine. The drought is persis...

Calling their bluff, President Donald Trump challenged his G7 partners to a trade agreement amongst the industrialist elite that would result in “no...

Fauxfundity EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal today contained oversight, invention and contradiction. S...

Senate Ag Committee Chairman Pat Roberts (R-Kansas) and Ranking Minority Member Debbie Stabenow (D-Michigan) briefed commodity groups and various other int...

Profit taking, good weather and zero technical support left the CBOT to trade lower today with only corn managing to close a few cents higher. With the ong...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

Wheat Procurement Exceeds Estimates; Open Market Prices Drop As of 4 June 2018, 34.724 MMT of wheat had been procured for 2018/19 by the Food Corporation o...

There has been market chatter this week that yields in parts of Oklahoma were better than expected, and that could mean USDA will increase hard red winter...

Overnight futures trading found prices around unchanged or slightly firmer except for wheat futures, which marched off to double-digit gains. There is more...

China to Begin Auctions of Soybeans from State Reserves China’s National Grain Trade Center today announced the government will begin its auctions of...

Meeting Like No Other There will be a G-7 meeting this weekend in Charlevoix, Canada that will be like no other. Donald Trump will square off against six o...

On 31 May, one day prior to implementation of the U.S. tariffs on steel and aluminum, the Economy Secretariat of Mexico announced that until those are resc...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

It is hard to discuss grain and soy markets without referencing the Trump administration’s actions and pronouncements about trade. Exports, after all...

Continued fund selling beat-down row crop futures today while wheat managed modest gains. The weather is increasingly bearish U.S. corn and soybeans while...

Commodity Analytics shows the most recent data for grain export sales and shipments along with historic patterns. Current deviations from historic norms po...

Dissecting the Trade War Wrong Goal: During this past weekend’s bilateral negotiations, China offered to buy $70 billion worth of American farm, ener...

Russian Grain Markets: 28 May-1 June 2018 Domestic grain prices mainly grew as the volumes of stocks offered on the market were limited. Thus, despite the...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

Futures were higher overnight after the Wall Street Journal reported that China had agreed to purchase $70 billion of U.S. energy and agriculture products...

Policy Trends China Announces Tariff Reductions on Imported Consumer Goods On 31 May, China’s State Council announced a new round of tariff reduction...

In a follow-up to Monday’s beating, grain and soy prices were slightly lower in early overnight trade. However, they managed to recover and were a bi...

Gulf of the Atlantic The EU’s differences with Washington extend beyond trade policy and into fundamental political philosophy. Brussels is trying to...

With the Trump administration’s plan to reduce RIN prices expected to be released at any moment, it was timely that the Intercontinental Exchange (IC...

India Expected to Raise Vegoil Tariff Rates Undisclosed sources in India’s government have told Reuters that officials are considering a hike in the...

Agricultural futures traders are aware that futures prices for corn, wheat, soybeans and soy products tend to go down at a much faster rate than they rise...

Changes in Commodity Analytics’ short-term technical indicators for grain futures should be carefully examined against long-term signals. Elsewhere,...

Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Tunisia’s grain harvest for this year is...

All in Trade War The lack of a China-U.S. agreement on trade this past weekend in Beijing means that things will get worse before they get better. Each sid...

A number of lawmakers had been seeking an immediate waiver for E15 this summer, but the deadline for that has passed.  E15 cannot be sold from 1 June...

Markets continued their collapse today, following a lack of progress in the weekend trade talked between China and the U.S. The hardline Trump trade talk h...

The news from the weekend trade talks with China wasn’t good, which prompted a continuation of last week’s sell-off in wheat, corn, and soybean...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

Export Taxes Argentina’s difficult economic situation forced the Argentine peso to devaluate from 21 to 25.5 pesos/dollar in May. The Argentine gover...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was lower last week as the old-crop/new-crop inverse is eroding. The new-crop harvest is expected to start in 2 weeks in...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

Details are emerging from the Senate about that Chamber’s deliberations over the 2018 farm bill. Though still described as a “moving target,&rd...

Battle Stations Whether it is a trade war or merely a trade dispute or trade discussion, there’s firing going on in both directions. The Trump Admini...

A week ago, WPI wrote about how farmers are optimistic about better markets for 2018 based on several at least somewhat positive factors. We should have wa...

Markets had an interesting finish to a mostly bearish holiday-shortened trading week. Prices were steady to firm overnight and started today’s sessio...

Corn and Soymeal Exports Could Keep Prices High Indian corn is competitive and finding markets in Vietnam and Bangladesh. Vietnam continues to import India...

This week’s Export Sales report from USDA offers insight into the grain market’s likely price pattern going forward. Based on historic export p...

Today’s news was dominated by trade matters that potentially could be important for grain and soy markets. President Trump declared that beginning to...

Macron Solution French President Emmanuel Macron correctly reacted to the U.S. imposition of tariffs on steel and aluminum by calling for an overhaul of th...

Livestock slaughter weights have been diverging this year with cattle trending down and hogs trending up. The heavier slaughter weights for hogs likely st...

Brazilian Exports Still Stalled After Trucker Strike Ends Some truckloads of soybeans and other commodities have begun to arrive at Brazilian processing pl...

If there is a common thread tying together the vast jungle of complex banking regulations that emerged from the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial market reform leg...

Light trading volume gave way to slightly higher wheat prices, afternoon weakness in corn and lower closes in soybeans. The trade is reevaluating market fu...

Ag, energy, and soft commodity futures’ technical patterns, including momentum and long-term indicators, are examined. Changes in the forward curve f...

Errors of Approach The Trump negotiating modus operandi is chaos, which worked in real estate transactions where he was the lone voice on his side of the t...

Russian Grain Markets: 21-25 May 2018 The average milling wheat export price remained stable at $212/MT FOB Black Sea, and purchase prices at seaports were...

Changes in Commodity Analytics’ short-term technical indicators for grain futures should be carefully examined against long-term signals. Elsewhere,...

Profit taking and surprisingly good crop condition ratings sparked a sell-off at the CBOT today. The overnight session featured losses of 3 cents for corn,...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Holds Steady The feed market found new footing in the past week as demand from hog producers began picking up steam. Soymeal sal...

The overnight session that started Monday evening was the first opportunity to trade CME grain and soy futures since Friday. Wheat futures traded higher, b...

USDA released its monthly Cattle on Feed (COF) report last Friday. The total number of cattle in feedlots with capacity of more than 1,000 as of 1 May was...

Policy Turbulence Markets reacted today to the political uncertainty in Italy, but there are plenty of economic policy threats to go around. Some say that...

Changes in energy products’ recent price behavior point to potential trading opportunities. Similarly, the momentum indicators in grains show opportu...

Brazil Trucker Strike Hits Agriculture Hard By all accounts, the trucker strike in Brazil that lasted for eight days is now ending after the government off...

Early morning gains gave way to afternoon losses in the CBOT markets while livestock futures were steady/higher. The weather remains moderately bullish row...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS The Syrian government expects that it will only be able to purchase about 1 MMT of local wheat in 2018...

The Memorial Day weekend at the end of May is widely considered to be the beginning of summer even though that season’s solstice does not occur for a...

Cattle on Feed Up 5 percent to totaled 11.6 million head on May 1, 2018. This is the second highest May 1 inventory since the series began in 1996. Placeme...

Monday, 28 May is a U.S. holiday, and the markets are closed that day. Please note that the next Ag Perspectives will be published on 29 May.   ...

Politicians Politicizing U.S. Senator Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) has her state’s fishermen to protect from more innovative competitors, and so she is...

Another meeting was held at the White House yesterday regarding year-round approval for E15 as well as other reforms to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)...

Recent price activity for ag, energy, and soft commodities is examined in tabular and graphical format. The most important price analysis is distilled for...

Markets opened the Thursday evening session marginally softer after yesterday’s weakness. Corn and wheat pushing to new highs yesterday morning and t...

The North American summer growing season can be considered “officially” underway with the long Memorial Day weekend. The northern half of the c...

Sugar Prices Improve on GOI Intervention It seems that the government of India (GOI) has finally heeded the sugar industry’s demand and will create a...

Reading Trump, Again The Trump administration’s announcement of a Section 232 investigation into automobile imports as a national security threat onl...