Rural Infrastructure President Trump’s newly announced infrastructure plan gives some priority to rural areas by making them an early beneficiary of...

President Donald Trump has been labeled – by friends and foes alike – as a marketing and branding wizard. He hasn’t lost that touch movin...

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

The markets started with good gains in the Sunday evening session, led by double-digit increases in soybeans on the heels of a sharp rally in soymeal futur...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into HRW and HRS wheat futures. Shifts in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures indicate a changin...

One of the late changes to the recently passed U.S. tax reform bill created some significant, unintended consequences that gave farmers a huge tax break an...

Macroeconomics On 9 February, a portion of the grain truck drivers’ union called for a strike across Argentina that is also preventing those who are...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market is slightly firmer. The Russian 12.5 pro is offered at $200/MT FOB, which is about $2/MT higher than last Monday despite...

After a brief midnight shutdown, Congress approved yet another modified stopgap budget package in the early hours of this morning. This is the fifth contin...

Trump Triangulates As one U.S. trade policy official described the situation, it is Alice in Wonderland, where up is down and small is big – a real f...

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

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experienced by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally,...

The general chaos that has plagued the U.S. financial markets this week is having a negative spillover impact on more markets. Crude oil dropped more than...

Higher Duties on Sugar and Chickpea Imports Have Immediate Effect To keep a check on prices, the government of India (GOI) has raised the duty on sugar fro...

The general attitude of the markets is that the world is “awash” in everything. It’s tough to argue that statement if looking at the abso...

As the markets waited for USDA’s February WASDE at noon (EST) today, overnight trading volume declined rather sharply from its heavy level earlier th...

The February WASDE typically generates few surprises. In that sense, today’s report stands out as containing some changes that exceeded expectations...

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

USDA Cuts Forecast for U.S. Soybean Exports Again and Revises Other Estimates Today USDA unsurprisingly further reduced its forecast for U.S. soybean expor...

Today’s closing prices for corn, wheat, soybeans, cattle, and hog futures are shown along with USDA’s Export Sales results. Analysis of the lat...

USDA surprised the markets today with significant changes to its U.S. commodity balance sheets. After the initial surprise, however, market settled down an...

Soybean oil prices are forecast at 31 to 34 cents per pound, down 1 cent at the midpoint.  Global oilseed crush for 2017/18 is projected at 487.5...

 Soybean meal prices are projected at $305 to $335 per short ton, up $5 at the midpoint.  Global oilseed production for 2017/18 is projected...

Scale Needed in Africa The Overseas Development Institute (ODI), a research group funded by governments, international organizations and development groups...

2017/18 U.S. soybean outlook is for reduced exports and increased ending stocks. Soybean exports for 2017/18 are projected at 2,100 million bushels, down 6...

Global corn production is lowered 2.8 million tons largely reflecting reductions for Argentina and Ukraine. For Argentina, persistent heat and dryness...

Projected 2017/18 U.S. ending stocks are raised this month by 20 million bushels as higher food use is more than offset by lower exports, while export fore...

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...

Congress has come up with a spending package to avoid a government shutdown. If passed, the spending blueprint would fund the government for two years, tak...

Addressing China’s Mercantilism U.S. sorghum prices plummeted 25 percent on word that China has used imports of this commodity from the U.S. as a ret...

Grain and soy futures opened the overnight session mostly stronger on follow-up momentum and the bullish technical signals generated by Tuesday’s pri...

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

Russian Grain Markets: 29 January-2 February 2018 There was an upward trend in prices for all grains as a saturated domestic market continued reacting to t...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into HRW and HRS wheat futures. Shifts in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures indicate a changin...

Wheat led the way higher in today’s trading with corn rising slightly and soybeans falling in choppy trading. The stage for today’s wheat rally...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Rises Above 1 MMT China’s nationwide estimated soybean inventory surpassed 1 MMT for the first time since the end of last...

Farm Bill Moolah The farm bill is ready to begin moving in a few short weeks with the only holdup being the lack of money desired by congressional farm lea...

The overnight trading session for grains and the soy complex opened with the backdrop of the biggest single-day decline of the Dow ever. It was not the big...

There are many subjects, big and small, of interest to agricultural markets and worthy of discussion as we head deeper into February, although grain and so...

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

The stock market fell nearly 1,200 points yesterday, the Dow’s largest decline in a single day and the biggest drop since 2011, a very volatile year...

Today’s closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their change...

Today was Turnaround Tuesday after commodity and equity markets closed deeply in the red yesterday. CBOT products found support in the overnight session an...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Egypt has revised its terms for government wheat purchases after suppliers were refusing to participate...

Critical Week for Argentine Soybeans Weather forecasters are predicting substantial rains across Argentina’s driest areas on Friday and Saturday of t...

TPP Reality? Aggies are trying to decipher the degree of seriousness behind President Trump’s announcement in Davos that he would reconsider joining...

While still February, it’s very dry with the drought worsening across much of the U.S. as well as southern Manitoba and Saskatchewan (see the drought...

Soybeans Brazil Brazil’s soybean market was stable last week with some movement in February and March shipments, which is where Chinese demand is sho...

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

According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), biodiesel production totaled 148 million gallons in November 2017, the same amount as in Oct...

Wheat, corn and soybean markets opened lower overnight, and they traded that way throughout the day session. A number of factors contributed to this trend...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Shifts in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures indicate...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market has gained about $2.00. The FOB prices followed the rally of the U.S. and EU futures’ markets early in the week bu...

Trump Globalism U.S. President Donald Trump is repeatedly called a nationalist and a protectionist. Robert Manning at the Brent Scowcroft Center claims tha...

The corn, soybean and wheat markets were lower overnight with the latter two suffering the greatest losses in moderate volume. That pattern of weakness did...

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experienced by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally,...

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

USTR’s Chief Ag Negotiator Nominee Moving toward Confirmation Yesterday Senator Jeff Flake (R-Arizona) announced that he had released his hold on the...

High Duty Reduces Edible Oil Imports Edible oil imports dropped in December 2017 following an increase in the duty the previous month, falling approximatel...

February is important for U.S. farmers as it is the month that the initial prices for the federal crop revenue insurance programs are calculated. These als...

Yesterday’s corrective price action extended into the overnight session with soybeans leading the way, being down 7-8 cents. Wheat futures prices wer...

Dollar Strength U.S. Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin stirred the currency market last week by initially saying at Davos that a weaker U.S. dollar would be...

Simplistic economics suggest that the value of any freely-traded commodity is ultimately determined by the balance between its supplies and demand. That is...

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

USDA released its semi-annual cattle inventory report yesterday. It showed the U.S. herd on 1 January 2018 was the largest in nine years at 94.4 million he...

Today’s closing prices for corn, wheat, soybeans, cattle, and hog futures are shown along with USDA’s Export Sales results. Analysis of the lat...

Volatility returned to the markets today. After a benign overnight session, corn, soybeans, and wheat all headed lower on bearish export sales numbers. The...

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...

Russian Grain Markets: 22-26 January 2018 There were no significant changes in domestic market trends. Prices for wheat (all grades) and feed barley contin...

SOTU Redux President Trump used last night’s State of the Union address to reiterate his goal of fixing “decades of unfair trade deals,”...

Janet Yellen’s final meeting as Fed chair ended today with the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) deciding to leave the interest rate unchanged, wh...

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

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into HRW and HRS wheat futures. Shifts in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures indicate a changin...

Grain futures corrected lower during the overnight session after a steady/mixed start. Farmer selling was active yesterday which reduced some buyer enthusi...

  Policy  China’s Central Government Announces 2018 Farm Subsidies Last week China’s central government published its 2018 farm and a...

Active overnight trading saw wheat and corn prices move higher as soybeans hung around on either side of Monday’s closes. Although corn was the volum...

SOTU Tonight Speculation about the content in an upcoming presidential State of the Union (SOTU) address is usually just that – much speculation, but...

The ability to export crude oil, which was granted to U.S. producers in December 2015, is still a game changer in the energy markets. Global crude oil aver...

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’s closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their change...

Fund short-covering, worse-than-expected U.S. wheat conditions, and a hot, dry weather forecast for Argentina sent grains and oilseed futures sharply highe...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS News reports concerning a possible ADM/Bunge merger have raised questions about the future of G3 Canada...

Noncommercial managed funds have held a large short position in wheat futures, mainly Chicago (SRW), in what seems like forever. The fund long position in...

USDA released its monthly Cattle on Feed (COF) report this past Friday. The on-feed inventory as of 1 January was 11.58 million head or 108 percent of last...

Meat Tipping Point Activist groups in Europe are rallying against meat imports from Mercosur just as Brussels tries to complete a trade agreement with part...

Soybeans Brazil The Brazilian soybean crop keeps rising or at least consolidating production. Trading houses are estimating a baseline of 112 MMT with upsi...

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

Wheat and soybean markets were strong overnight on very good volume. Weather in Argentina has become the market’s focus, and there were some scattere...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into HRW and HRS wheat futures. Shifts in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures indicate a changin...

Adverse weather conditions in Argentina and parts of Brazil are starting to slowly change the dynamics of the corn market (or at least the world numbers)...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market is firmer because of the stronger Russian ruble, which has rallied more than 3 percent versus the USD in one month. Whil...

Donald at Davos President Donald Trump today became the first U.S. leader to address the World Economic Forum in nearly two decades. Most notably and in a...

WPI previously wrote about the Trump USDA’s plans to weigh in on the farm bill as well as the diminishing likelihood of that occurring with the delay...

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

United States Cattle on Feed Up 8 Percent. The inventory included 7.34 million steers and steer calves, up 4 percent from the previous year. This group acc...

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experienced by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally,...

Markets were steady to slightly higher overnight. Soybean and soymeal futures then started today’s session easier following a disappointing weekly so...

Increased Corn Area; Prices Stable but High The 2017/18 rabi (summer crop) corn area, which will be harvested in March-April 2018, totaled 1.5739 million h...

Soy Export Sales Highlights Last week’s U.S. exports sales were not good for the soy complex. Net soybean export sales for 2017/18 totaled only 616,3...

When previously discussing what it might take to push the funds out of their record (or near-record) short positions in corn, wheat and soybean futures (se...

Wheat:  Net sales of 427,200 metric tons for delivery in marketing year 2017/2018 were up noticeably from the previous week and from the prior 4-week...

From TPP to CPTPP What started under the Obama administration as the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), comprised of the U.S. and 11 other countries, will en...

The upward thrust of grain and soy futures prices continued overnight as did the upsurge in trading volume. Also continuing was the downward trend of the U...

The very first farm bill, the Agricultural Adjustment Act, was passed in 1933 as an early part of President Franklin Roosevelt’s New Deal approach in...

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

Today’s closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their change...

Grains and oilseeds were higher in the overnight session, trying to extend yesterday’s gains. Trade volume was big with 15,000 March corn contracts t...

Davos Dirt Speaking to Bloomberg News this week at the World Economic Forum, Liu He, the top financial and economic adviser to President Xi Jinping, said t...

Russian Grain Markets: 15-19 January 2018 The domestic market was influenced by the same trends of the previous week with average prices rising slightly in...

Soybean and product prices moved lower overnight while grains climbed higher, reversing yesterday’s pattern of direction. The volume of trade was not...

No Food or Jobs USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue stuck with conventional conservativism in at least one of his “principles” for the next farm bill &...

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

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into HRW and HRS wheat futures. Shifts in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures indicate a changin...

Grains and the soy complex were mixed in the overnight session with soy lower and grains firmer. The volume of overnight trade was good with 19,000 March c...

Macro Trends 2017 Ag Output Up Despite Lagging Growth Rates Annual data released by China’s National Bureau of Statistics shows the country’s t...

Trade Policy Confusion Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi decried protectionism at the World Economic Forum today. In a speech widely perceived to be an a...

There is good news for ethanol exporters as Brazil may very well lift the newly established tariff-rate quota (TRQ) on ethanol imports, which was imposed b...

The futures market pattern of firmer soybeans and weaker grains continued overnight in modest limited volume, but the truth is that soybean gains as well a...

Cockleburs a Problem for U.S. Soybean Shipments to Pakistan While in Karachi this past weekend to speak at the third Pakistan Edible Oils Conference, it wa...

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

During the 2016 presidential campaign, candidate Donald Trump often complained about the large and growing U.S. trade deficit with China. It was, he assert...

The government is back in session today, which did not impress the grains markets. Overnight trade was mixed with grains lower and the soy complex gained o...

Today’s closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their change...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Egypt’s supply ministry has announced that the government’s wheat storage capacity will be...

Farming Propaganda It may not just be foreign elections that Russia is trying to influence but foreign economies as well. While investigating the 2016 U.S...

Soybeans Argentina Soybean seeding in Argentina is almost finished with 98 percent of the projected area (18 million hectares) covered and less than 400,00...

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

The U.S. government did partially shut down at midnight (EST) Friday night, but Congress then reached an agreement today to extend government funding throu...

There were a number of stories circulating last Friday afternoon about how Bunge is (or might now be) the target of acquisition talks by ADM and perhaps ot...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into HRW and HRS wheat futures. Shifts in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures indicate a changin...

Saturday, 20 January marked the one-year anniversary of President Trump’s inauguration. It also capped a year full of surprises with a government shu...

The recent record cold weather, especially in the South, will have some lasting impacts on agriculture throughout the new year. On a positive note, a likel...

Chocolate Ban One of the reasons European Parliamentarians (EPs) gave for prohibiting the use of palm oil in biodiesel was to stop deforestation. Now a rep...

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experienced by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. USDA’s e...

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

Markets were all higher overnight, led by the soy complex. Soybeans extended those gains to double-digits in the first 30-45 minutes of today’s sessi...

Soybean and soymeal futures finished the week strong despite last week’s relatively bearish USDA numbers. Ongoing dry weather across much of Argentin...

Sugar Prices Continue to Tumble Sugarcane processors (mills) should pay farmers for their stocks within two weeks of the harvest/purchase, and the governme...

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...

Plant Protein Protectionism In a “Europe First” move, the EU has committed to creating an “EU Protein Plan” by the end of 2018. The...

More Livestock Eating Less USDA’s feed outlook report estimates grain consuming animal units (GCAUs) will total 99 million in 2017/18, up from 98.3 m...

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

U.S. DDGS exports could expand 28 percent in 2018 along with a moderate increase in prices. Favorable changes in geopolitics, including China’s reduc...

Soybeans and wheat continued yesterday’s higher pricing trend, while corn retreated toward the safety of $3.50 (again). Soymeal was higher for the fo...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into HRW and HRS wheat futures. Shifts in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures indicate a changin...

The U.S. has long been the world’s dominant supplier of soybeans for the period of 1 October-31 March. South America normally fulfills that role duri...

Appointment Hostages The number of presidential nominees being held hostage in the U.S. Senate is notable for several reasons: Placing a hold on an appoin...

Russian Grain Markets: 8-12 January 2018 Market activity was still slow, but average prices grew slightly in both RUB and USD expression due to strengtheni...

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’s trade was essentially a reversal of recent trends with wheat higher, soybeans flat and corn rising above $3.50/bushel. The cattle complex was...

Today’s closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Retreats Breaking four consecutive weeks of increases, China’s estimated soymeal inventory fell to 883,700 MT as of 5 Janu...

Standard-Less Identity The U.S. Food & Drug Administration issued a new strategic roadmap that indicates it will revisit the standards of identity for...

Overnight trading of CME grain and soy futures was more active than has been the case for much of the last several weeks. Due to the Monday holiday in the...

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

Weekend Rains Helped Some Areas in Argentina Weekend rains in Argentina did bring relief to some areas, but more widespread coverage will be needed soon in...

The awaited reports on 2018 quarterly stocks and winter wheat acreage along with the January 2018 WASDE have come and gone. Given the broad spectrum of dat...

It was the hope of most aggies late last year that the farm bill would be passed out of the House Agriculture Committee this month with floor time schedule...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into HRW and HRS wheat futures. Shifts in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures indicate a changin...

Traders returned from the holiday weekend with renewed enthusiasm for selling wheat, buying soybeans, and not doing anything with corn. The livestock compl...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS The first shipment of 2,200 MT of Indian wheat has arrived in Kabul, Afghanistan via Iran’s Chaba...

The U.S. Trade Representative’s Office just released a list of so-called notorious markets where counterfeit and pirated goods are sold. Notably, man...

Monday, 15 January is a U.S. holiday, and our office will be closed. Please note that the next Ag Perspectives will be published the following day  &n...

Gary Blumenthal and Bob Kohlmeyer both discussed the history of co-ops and the changes in their tax treatment under the recent tax reform bill this week. F...

Almost everyone expected bearish corn and soybean numbers in today’s series of USDA reports, and that is what they were for the most part. If there w...

As expected, markets were all basically unchanged overnight in light trading volume ahead of today’s series of major USDA reports. That calm tone the...

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experienced by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally,...

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

Arbitrage White Members of Mexico’s National Tortilla Council were reportedly (Reuters) threatening to raise the price of their primary product, a st...

U.S. soyoil stocks declined from 1,616 million lbs in December 2017 to 1,536 million lbs in January 2018. Global oilseed ending stocks are projected at 111...

"Soybean meal production is unchanged as the higher crush is offset by a lower extraction rate.... Global oilseed production is projected at 580.1 million...

"Global oilseed production is projected at 580.1 million tons, up 0.5 million.  Soybean production is raised 0.1 million tons to 348.6 million on gain...

"This month’s 2017/18 U.S. corn outlook is for larger production, increased food, seed, and industrial use (FSI), lower feed and residual use, and gr...

Bumper Wheat Crop Expected, but Imports Still Cheaper Available records indicate the area under wheat in 2017/18 totals 28.3 million hectares, down about 4...

"Projected 2017/18 U.S. wheat ending stocks are raised 29 million bushels on increased supplies and decreased use.  Seed use is lowered 4 million bush...

Government Skewing The Indian government proclaims food insecurity and demands the right to build a domestic food stockpiling mechanism. At the same time,...

Soy Export Sales Better Last Week Exporters of U.S. soybeans and soymeal had better success making new sales in the week ending 4 January. Net sales of soy...

On this last full day of trading ahead of the release of USDA’s various reports at noon (EST) on Friday, markets were about as quiet as one might exp...

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

When we entered the grain business right out of college in the mid-1950s, there was a considerable level of antipathy and distrust between agricultural coo...

Today’s closing  prices for corn, wheat, soybeans, cattle, and hog futures are presented along with USDA’s Export Sales results. Analysis...

Lean hog futures continued their beatdown today while feeder cattle were similarly lower. Live cattle futures managed an unconvincing higher close but rema...

Record Red Meat Exports USDA released the November red meat export statistics this week, which showed pork exports reached their highest monthly total on r...

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...

Under the new 199A deduction, farmers can sell their production to a coop and take a tax deduction for net earnings at up to 20 percent of the gross value...

Russian Grain Markets:  25 December 2017-10 January 2018 Market Trends Market activity was slow with insignificant changes in prices. Key grain prices...

Cooperative Evolution Farmer cooperatives in the U.S. were historically conflicted between serving their farmer members and operating as competitive busine...

Grain and soy markets are well into the waiting game for Friday’s USDA reports, and this shows up in the form of light volume and limited price actio...

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

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Ends 2017 With Fourth Straight Weekly Increase China’s nationwide estimated soymeal inventory continued to rise for four s...

The CME’s livestock products turned the board red today with sharp losses in the cattle complex and a weaker tone to hog futures. CBOT grains were mi...

The combined release of USDA’s final yield/production estimates for the U.S. corn and soybean crops, the updated supply/demand estimates in the Janua...

Today’s grain and soy futures markets were a sharp contrast to Monday’s with a substantially lower volume of trade. Interestingly, open interes...

Trade “Blowback?” The Trump administration is about to make decisions on import protection for several industrial products (steel, solar panels...

President Trump spoke to the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) yesterday during the group’s annual convention in Nashville, Tennessee. He took c...

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

Rains Impacting South American Soy Crops Farmers in the Brazilian state of Mato Grosso are beginning to harvest early-maturing soybeans, but almost daily r...

Today’s closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price...

Grains and oilseeds are steady/mixed amid a day of mostly higher markets. The S&P 500 is up 8.26 points as of this writing while the Dow is up 128 poin...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Egypt seems to have finally settled the ergot problem that has plagued the wheat import business for se...

Despite the concerns he brings to the U.S. agriculture sector on the issue of trade generally and NAFTA specifically, President Donald Trump was warmly rec...

Funds have entered the New Year holding record-large short positions in corn and wheat futures, and they have also turned their long soybean position into...

Soybeans Market Trends Strong demand remains in the spot soybean market as Chinese buyers seem to have realized they need supplies immediately, a developme...

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

Markets started the week slightly easier Sunday evening on very limited trading volume with Minneapolis March at just 200 contracts. Meanwhile, March corn...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

The first half of 2017 was mostly neutral for commodities except for a second-quarter rally for livestock and a decidedly bearish trend for energy. By the...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market continued to remain about unchanged last week. Russia and Ukraine will return from their New Year and local Christmas ho...

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

The biggest crop-related issue today is not what might happen in the upcoming farm bill; rather, it is what occurred yesterday at the Department of Justice...

Regulated Commodity The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) announced that it will hold hearings at the end of the month to examine issues related...

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

Markets were mixed in the Thursday night session, and that’s pretty much how they ended the week. Corn didn’t do anything today, while soymeal...

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experienced by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets along with USDA...

The North Dakota State University (NDSU) extension service recently released its initial crop budget worksheets for 2018. It breaks the state of North Dako...

Higher Supplies Keeping Sugar Prices in Check India’s sugar production reached 10.3 MMT as of 31 December 2017, a 25.36 percent increase from the tot...

The New York Times identified a trend that would be the hoot of the New Year if it were not so deadly – raw water. It notes consumers drinking unfilt...

New Year’s Anti-Fat Message A panel of experts, pickd by U.S. News and World Report, rated the ketogenic diet as tied for worst option on its list of...

CME grain and soy complex futures traded both sides early during the overnight session, but they gradually drifted slightly lower as trading volume decline...

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

USDA’s array of January reports will be released on 12 January. They will include: the last estimates of the average yields and production for the 20...

Growing Soybean Rust Problem in Parana Asian soybean rust can be a devastating pathogen if not adequately controlled, and agronomists in Brazil recommend t...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Good afternoon from a very chilly Washington, D.C. The ‘bomb cyclone’ is hitting the northeast U.S. with wind, snow, and plenty of cold. Fortun...

Russia: Grain Export Update According to data provided by the Federal Customs Service of Russia, 26.595 MMT of grain were exported as of 27 December and fr...

Wrong Court The EU-Japan Free Trade Agreement will now start hurting U.S. exporters, and the next ding will come when the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) s...

Overnight futures trading started out rather slowly, but they then accelerated both in terms of volume and upward price movement during the early morning h...

Today’s closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price...

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

Surprisingly, wheat led the commodity complex higher today with soybeans a reluctant follower and corn futures unwilling to touch $3.55/bushel. U.S. stocks...

Policy Xi’s Policies Promise New Future for Small Farmers With market data updates slow to materialize because of the New Year’s holiday, this...

The second session of the 115th Congress will convene tomorrow, the start of a very busy schedule for the year. President Trump, House Speaker Paul Ryan (R...

Research by USDA/Economic Research Service (ERS) economists Annemarie Kuhns and Michelle Saksena reveals the contradictions and challenges posed to the foo...

With the closure yesterday and overnight because of New Year’s Day, CME grain futures markets opened for the first post-holiday trading session at 9:...

In 2017, U.S. corn and soybean growers experienced unexpectedly large yields, but the benefits of that were largely offset by very low crop prices. Winter...

Drought Continues in Parts of Argentina Relatively little rainfall was received this past weekend over Argentina’s soybean and corn growing areas, es...

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

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Good afternoon and Happy New Year! It’s been a generally upbeat day on both Wall Street and West Jackson street in Chicago with U.S. equities and ag...

MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Egypt’s government has announced that the official customs exchange rate will remain at the current level of 16 EG...

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...

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) issued a report, “Options to Reduce Budgetary Costs of the Federal Crop Insurance Program,” on 22 Decembe...

The WPI team extends best wishes to you and your families for a healthy and Happy New Year. Please note that our next report will be issued 2 January...

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

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally,...

Making prognostications about the year ahead has always been risky business, but predictions about the future have become a great deal more suspect followi...

Markets ended the year mixed on extremely light volume. Corn and wheat futures were 1-2 cents lower much of today’s session, and soybeans traded both...

This year ends with a peek at the latest numbers from the CFTC’s Commitment of Traders (COT) report. The chart below shows the net reported positions...

Soymeal Prices on the Rise  Demand for soymeal and soyoil is robust, but the soybean supply is limited and slow. The government of India’s (GOI&...

Hogs and Pigs Report USDA released this quarterly report last Friday, which was previewed here the previous day (see Ag Perspectives, 21 December). The tot...

Grain and soy futures prices were mixed as last evening’s trading began, but they soon drifted lower with soybeans and soymeal taking the lead in typ...

In the closing days of the year, it is standard procedure for commentators to put forth their lists of the best, worst or most important items of the past...

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

Donald Trump upended conventional trade policy in 2017, but there are critical deadlines in 2018 that will reveal the wisdom or calamity of his ways. While...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

More information is now available regarding China’s new foreign material (FM) standard for soybean imports from the U.S. (see Ag Perspectives, 22 Dec...

In contrast to the combination of red and green hues traditional at Christmas time, the CBOT featured mostly red today. Corn, the entire soy complex, and C...

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

Yesterday’s price trends carried over into the overnight session with soybeans and soy products firmer while the grains were near unchanged to slight...

Organic Enforcement An increase in products, particularly via importation, being falsely marketed in the U.S. as organic has prompted legislation to double...

Russian Grain Markets: 18-22 December 2017 Domestic prices moved in different directions. On the export market, milling wheat prices continued to drop, fal...

Today’s closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price...

Grains are higher while the soy complex is under pressure. After yesterday’s fireworks in the soybean pit, the weather situation is failing to develo...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Climbs Again, Reaching 10-Week High China’s nationwide soymeal inventory hit a 10-week high through mid-December as crushe...

Export demand is playing an increasingly larger role in the energy markets. Since 2010, those exports have more than doubled with very strong growth occurr...

Markets reopened this morning after the Christmas holiday with the same lack of enthusiasm that prevailed last week. There was little by way of fresh news...

For many months, the CME grain and soy markets have been stuck in a fundamentally, technically and emotionally bearish pattern. Typically, trading volumes...

Farming is a mess, given its contribution to soil erosion, desertification and other maladies. However, fishing is even worse. At least the effects of farm...

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

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

China’s Soybean Imports Data released today by China’s General Administration of Customs indicates the country’s U.S. soybean imports tot...

Merry day-after-Christmas! Corn and wheat futures were generally quiet in the market’s annual post-Christmas trading lull while soybean futures were...

The WPI team sends best wishes for the holiday season to you and your families. Plese note that our next report will be issued on 26 December   ...

Tax Tiff It brings the effective (total) tax rate on U.S. companies down to Europe’s average effective rate, but the Wall Street Journal notes that t...

China Tightens FM Standard for U.S. Soybeans China intends to tighten its foreign material (FM) standard for U.S. soybeans, effective 1 January 2018. Soybe...

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

The House and Senate both passed a continuing resolution (CR) yesterday (before today’s funding deadline) that will keep the government open until 19...

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally,...

There was an interesting news story from Paris, carried by Reuters in these last days before Christmas, entitled “France to raise minimum food prices...

Sugar Prices Under Pressure as Production Rises India’s 2017/18 sugar production totaled 6.94 MMT as of 15 December 2017, up 5.346 MMT (29.81 percent...

Cattle on Feed inventory were up 8 percent, placements up 14 percent, and marketings of 1.84 million head were the highest for November since the series be...

Merry Christmas! Markets closed early today at 1 p.m. (EST) and will reopen on Tuesday at 9:30 a.m. (EST). The grain and oilseed markets were fractionally...

2017 was an eventful year for the U.S. economy and the agricultural markets. 2018 promises to be just as interesting, although perhaps not as bullish. ...

Tomorrow, the last business day before Christmas, will be a busy one for livestock news. USDA will be releasing its quarterly Hogs and Pigs inventory repor...

In an otherwise dull market, today’s USDA/FAS export sales report was a pleasant surprise. For the week ending 14 December, the totals for wheat, cor...

Fri 12/22/2017 12:00 pm Cattle on Feed NASS 12:00 pm Chickens and Eggs NASS 12:00 pm Cold Storage NASS 12:00 pm Cotton Ginnings NASS 12:00 pm Hogs and Pigs...

Selective Efficiency Hampton Creek, the artificial foods maker, has announced a new product. It had earlier purchased its own fake mayonnaise from grocery...

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

Today’s closing futures prices for corn, wheat, soybeans, cattle, and hog futures are shown along with USDA’s Export Sales results. Export Sale...

By its nature, grain farming is a risky business, and most farmers are generally tolerant of the chances they take every year. It is commonly said that som...

Trader’s pre-Christmas exit from the markets was notable today as grains and oilseed futures traded lazily in low volume. One analyst remarked on twi...

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

Thu 12/21/2017 8:30 am Weekly Export Sales FAS 9:00 am Food Price Outlook ERS 3:00 pm Cost of Pollination   NASS 3:00 pm Livestock Slaughter NASS...

Russian Grain Markets: 11-15 December 2017 Market Trends A 3.9 percent increase in the railroad transportation tariff for grains contributed to increases i...

German Torheit The European department at the German Bundestag is seeking to appease Social Democrats and Greens by reportedly arguing that a national ban...

Congress finally passed the Republican overhaul of the U.S. tax code today and sent it to President Trump for his promised signature. Republicans promised...

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

Grain and oilseed futures traded quietly today ahead of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. With the dry Argentine weather moderating there is lit...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Reverses Course: With soybean crushers returning to normal activity and ramping up output in anticipation of higher feed demand,...

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’s grain and soy markets could be described as in the holiday doldrums, but they have been in that state since long before the season’s ap...

The U.S. is not the only country debating the future of biofuel compliance credits, which are known as Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) there. Biofu...

Beating up on U.S. wheat markets has virtually become a habit for those analysts still paying attention to them. The irony of U.S. 2017 planted wheat acrea...

Today’s closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price...

Argentina Apparently Seeks U.S. Deal  Argentina’s decision to raise the export tax on biodiesel from zero to 8 percent (see Ag Perspectives, 14...

WPI provides a list of coming USDA reports that will have market-moving interest to our readers. Reports included in this list span those covering feed gra...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Black Sea wheat and corn FOB futures contracts, which are for 50 MT each, can now be traded on CME Glob...

Renegotiating Renewable The high cost of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs), now at $0.98 after reaching $1.07 in October, is hurting smaller oil refi...

One of the numbers that will be released in the 12 January USDA reports will be the estimate of winter wheat plantings. Those and spring-planted wheat acre...

Markets started the Sunday evening session firm and finished that way. Wheat was the leader with small gains in all three markets. Meanwhile, corn and soyb...

It was the week before Christmas and all through the House (and Senate), lawmakers were meeting deadlines and advancing priorities with care. Indeed, Congr...

Soybeans Chinese crushers were avid buyers of spot beans last week, purchasing all cheap offers available for December and January. Their margins improved...

WPI provides a list of coming USDA reports that will have market-moving interest to our readers. Reports include in this list span those covering feed grai...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

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 continued to be about unchanged last week. Domestic prices in Russia increased $1-4 in the main production regions. A bo...

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

It’s an annual tradition at this time to look back and assess where certain matters stand prior to the New Year. In that spirit, below is a summary r...

Fracturing Food Major food processing companies (Unilever, Tysons, Campbell Soup Co., Nestlé, Dean Foods and Mars) have quit the Grocery Manufacture...

Soy complex prices eased a bit this week on better chances for precipitation across the driest parts of southern Brazil and Argentina over the next 10-14 d...

Higher Cotton Production Expected; Prices Slowly Moving Up: The Cotton Advisory Board (CAB)’s estimate of India’s 2017/18 cotton production is...

Markets were quietly steady overnight in light trading volume. They then started higher this morning on the heels of several export sales announcements, in...

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally,...

India coalesced the developing nations in 2001 and forced the rich countries to accept the “Development” part in the WTO’s Doha Developme...

WASDE and Hog Slaughter USDA’s December WASDE report was released this week, and it showed a drop of 180 million pounds in pork production compared w...

Critical Weekend for Argentine Corn and Soybean Crops Weather forecasters are predicting some rainfall this weekend over much of Argentina’s soybean...

Earlier this week, we were asked why grain and soy futures markets do not seem to be taking the lack of rainfall and resulting dryness in portions of Brazi...

Bitcoin mania with its wild price swings has taken over the attention of a good part of the financial world, and now it has become a commodity. Following a...

Today’s closing futures prices for corn, wheat, soybeans, cattle, and hog futures are shown along with USDA’s Export Sales results. Export Sale...

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

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

Trudeau Channels Trump The C-Series passenger jet produced by Canadian-based Bombardier and jointly owned by Airbus and the government of Quebec competes a...

Russian Grain Markets: 4-8 December 2017 Market Trends Domestic prices changed insignificantly overall, although there were some regional fluctuations. How...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Down Slightly as Feed Demand Improves Improving downstream fundamentals in the livestock market, particularly in hog production...

Grain and soy prices tried to recover at least some of their losses following yesterday’s WASDE. Overnight trade saw prices inch higher in quite low...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

The Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) is meeting today and tomorrow. As noted after last month’s meeting (see Ag Perspecti...

MC-11 Update The U.S. is no doubt wearing the black hat at the WTO Ministerial Conference (MC-11) in Buenos Aires. Rather than accede to the agenda being d...

USDA’s December WASDE, released at midday, fits right into the history of previous issues for this month. They very seldom contain surprises but are...

EU Rapeseed Crushers Impacted by Argentine Biodiesel Imports EU rapeseed processors have done quite well in recent years because of EU tariffs blocking bio...

MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS: Egypt intends to expand its wheat planting area this year by about 20 percent to 3.74 million acres. The government has...

There was not much incentive to buy/sell grains or the soy complex during the overnight session with the December WASDE looming a few hours later. As a res...

Today’s closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price...

The U.S. wheat export picture is changing again with the USDA’s latest figures. The agency’s updates to the U.S. and world wheat balance sheets...

USDA’s latest supply/demand estimates for the world’s most prevalent feed grain are analyzed and the most pertinent results shown in graphical...

China’s soybean demand, combined with the U.S. and South American supply situation, offer insights into the coming supply/demand dynamics. USDA&rsquo...

USDA’s updates to the U.S., Argentine, and Brazilian soyoil export situation, combined with changes to China’s and Southeast Asia’s impor...

Updates to the U.S., Argentine, and Brazilian soyoil export situation, combined with USDA’s changes to China’s and Southeast Asia’s impor...

During the 2014 Farm Bill negotiations, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) was a divisive issue that delayed final passage of the legisla...

Transatlantic Devolution Responding to criticism that its management of the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) results in farm programs that are too complex...

USDA will release its December WASDE report tomorrow at noon (EST), and it has been impossible to find anyone who thinks it will include any numbers that a...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market again remained about unchanged last week with no major trades reported. The Russian 12.5 pro price has found a stable ba...

Soybeans Brazil Crop conditions in Brazil remain excellent in general. Soil moisture is good with decent rains received regularly. Perhaps the only dry reg...

Markets started the Sunday evening session steady to slightly easier. Selling did gain some momentum in the soy complex, and soybean futures eventually tra...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Bilateral Bungling The WTO Ministerial starts this weekend in Buenos Aires, but no major outcome is expected since the U.S. is supposedly focused on bilate...

Searching for a bullish wheat story over several months has been challenging. There was a six-week rally in wheat last June and July, but futures have drop...

Higher Import Duty Helps Boost Oilseed Prices The increase in the import duty on vegetable oils, which the government of India (GOI) imposed in mid-Novembe...

The overnight trade featured largely steady pricing activity with January soybeans, March corn and March wheat posting slight gains. The upward momentum di...

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally,...

Agriculture Lesson in DC U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross is a leader on trade issues in the Trump administration, and he has been known to express his...

Egg Case Headed to SCOTUS In 2008, California voters approved a referendum known as Proposition 2, intended to regulate the cage sizes for egg-laying hens...

Brazilian Farmers Investing More in Soybeans, Less in Corn Because of low corn prices and the necessity to treat soybeans for Asian rust, farmers in Mato G...

One of the common threads of important information regularly available to grain and soy markets is the weekly export sales report from USDA/FAS. No matter...

Overnight trading once again saw corn and wheat futures prices reluctant to move very far away from the previous close. Soybeans traded higher briefly, but...

Today’s closing futures prices for corn, wheat, soybeans, cattle, and hog futures are shown along with USDA’s Export Sales results. Export Sale...

Fake Agribusiness News CNBC’s headline reads: “Trump must avoid making US farmers the collateral damage of his protectionism, CEO says.”...

Russian Grain Markets: 27 November-1 December 2017 Market Trends Prices mostly remained stable. GEOGRAPHICALLY 3rd grade soft milling wheat prices grew in...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Climbs Again as Crushing Activity Picks Up Through the last full week of November, crushing activity began to recover as environ...

Soybean and corn futures traded slightly higher again overnight, while winter wheat contracts stayed close to unchanged. Trading volume was barely average...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Without trying to add to the salaciousness of the topic, it is worth considering recent revelations of sexual harassment in the context of the possible imp...

Bootstrap Economic Policy Ghanaian President Nana Akufo-Addo surprisingly told French President Emmanuel Macron that his country does not want development...

Argentina Dryness Currently the Soybean Trade’s Key Focus  It is well known by observers of the global soybean market over the last decade that...

As we move deeper into December, the energies and anxieties of the approaching holiday season become more noticeable. Whether that is good or bad depends o...

MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS The Iranian port of Chabahar is being officially inaugurated this week with a good deal of the funding for improvement a...

Overnight trading volume in grain and soy markets was substantially less than during the Sunday/Monday overnight session. There was very little effort to p...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

The U.S. Senate passed its tax reform proposal at about 2 a.m. (EST) on Saturday. Informal conference committee talks began as quickly as later that same d...

Soybean futures gapped upward in the Sunday evening session, trading 10-12 cents higher most of the night. The March contract traded right to $10.20, which...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week. The domestic market in Russia is $1.00-$2.00 higher, while the FOB market is stable...

Soybeans Brazil The Brazilian market was quiet last week. Demand was focused on spot (December/January) positions, but U.S. Gulf (USG) offers are currently...

Soybeans led corn and wheat markets higher in the Sunday evening session, driven by a continuation of the dry weather forecasts for southern Brazil and Arg...

Protectionism and Causes The WTO reports that protectionism has not increased as expected. The number of antidumping investigations by the U.S. fell during...

Soybean futures gapped upward in the Sunday evening session, trading 10-12 cents higher most of the night. The March contract traded right to $10.20, which...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week. The domestic market in Russia is $1.00-$2.00 higher, while the FOB market is stable...

Soybeans Brazil The Brazilian market was quiet last week. Demand was focused on spot (December/January) positions, but U.S. Gulf (USG) offers are currently...

Cotton Terrorism  Domestic agricultural subsidies distort markets and thus cause a multitude of harms. However, none seems worse than the overproducti...

Markets started this week with a thud. Corn and wheat futures contracts reached new lows on Monday. Meanwhile, soybean futures have continued to trade in a...

Wheat Sowing Slow; Higher Prices Remain Stable The rabi wheat sowing has reached 11.066 million hectares thus far, down 12.41 percent from 12.635 million h...

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally,...

Grain and oilseed markets started the month of December higher. Soybeans were the leader on slightly drier forecasts for southern Brazil and Argentina. Whe...

The U.S. EPA today finalized the 2018 Required Volume Obligations (RVOs) for biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). This is the fifth consecutiv...

USDA Preliminary 10-Year Baseline USDA issues a 10-year baseline report each year in February. This week, however, it released its early projections for th...

Mediocre Soy Export Sales Again Last Week Today’s USDA export sales report indicated last week was mediocre for U.S. soybeans, soymeal and soyoil. Ho...

For many years, USDA analysts have been cobbling together 10-year projections of planted area, yields, production, demand, carryout levels and farm gate pr...

Grain and soy prices crept lower overnight after Wednesday’s trading featured more large-scale liquidation of positions in December contracts. Open i...

Today’s closing futures prices for corn, wheat, soybeans, cattle, and hog futures are shown along with USDA’s Export Sales results. Export Sale...

BsAs’ BS The upcoming WTO Ministerial Conference (MC-11) in Buenos Aires (BsAs) is much drama wrapped around deadlocked agendas. Indonesia, whose sta...

Russian Grain Markets: 20-24 November 2017 Prices grew slightly in RUB expression, but they increased more significantly in USD expression due to strengthe...

Soymeal Inventory Rises for First Time in Five Weeks: Clearance delays involving new shipments of imported soybeans due to a backlog in the issuance of GMO...

Overnight trade produced mixed results for grain and soy prices. Soybeans were down, winter wheat was up slightly, and corn was about unchanged after Decem...

Today’s closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price...

President Trump returned from his Thanksgiving holiday break with a tweet underscoring this week’s make-or-break tax reform. As previously reported m...

Glyphosaticus Subterfugium  Although its roots are Latin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel’s reported anger with Christian Schmidt, her agricultu...

Disappointing Export Sales for Soybeans The 24 November USDA export sales report was very disappointing for soybeans. It showed net soybean export sales fo...

Yesterday Mike Krueger commented on how U.S. barley and oats production has suffered (see Ag Perspectives, 27 November) as those so-called minor feed grain...

MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Saudi Arabia’s proposed sale of state-owned flour mills is reported to be slightly more difficult than expected, c...

USDA’s Office of the Chief Economist provided a look at its initial 10-year baseline projections for 2018-2027 today, which will be updated and expan...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

This month's look at the markets around the world. We have seen a lot of activity this month and things are looking up internationally. Check out this mont...

Yesterday Bob Kohlmeyer shared his typically keen and instructive insight on the upcoming farm bill (see Ag Perspectives, 16 November). His fluency in all...

WTO Views  U.S. Department of Commerce Deputy Assistant Secretary Skip Jones said that the Trump administration could decide to leave the WTO. He argu...

Informa released its initial U.S. planting ideas for the 2018 season, which indicate it is expecting more corn acres and fewer soybean acres. It’s to...

Slumping Corn Prices, but No Export Feasibility Huge corn arrivals in the market yard have led to a seasonal slump in prices, which is a seasonal trend. Ma...

Markets opened steady to higher Thursday evening and then strengthened at today’s opening. They found some short covering to end the week, but there...

WPI provides a summary of the week’s futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally,...

The dynamics between fed cattle marketings and placements are analyzed with their implications for next quarters’ beef demand and pricing. Feedlot tu...