Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) does not want his vulnerable members to face any compromising votes before the November election. This means t...

Buyers/users are looking at prices that are sometimes half of what they were just 12 months ago. They are, as the saying goes, loading up the wagon, coveri...

Today's USDA export sales report showed a pronounced slowdown in net new export sales of soybeans and soybean products. With Brazil now harvesting its new...

From a livestock perspective, the farm bill is notable for what provisions are not in it. Farm Bill Livestock Provisions From a livestock perspective, the...

Ukraine's Parliament approved the state budget which includes VAT refunds to Ukrainian grain exporters. This will increase the profits of Ukrainian grain p...

U.S. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) gave definitive proof today that the trade policy agenda is in trouble. Trade Agenda Trouble U.S. Senate...

Large-scale fund liquidation during the day session set the stage for old crop soybean contracts to sink 13-16 cents by the close. Adding to the bearish at...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Argentina's government is desperately trying to encourage farmers to sell their crops as quickly as possible, but the lack of trust that farmers have for t...

Ethanol makers are claiming that they could export a lot more of the fuel if EPA would simply mandate the production. However, this means that ethanol woul...

Iran and Ukraine have announced that they will be working much closer together on the development of joint efforts in the agriculture sector.   News...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

As expected, the final conference report of the new farm bill was filed last night. It contains several new commodity programs of interest.As expected, the...

The shakeout of developing countries' currencies and world stock markets appears to have subsided at least for now. The U.S. dollar is higher, although it...

While wheat production has declined in the U.S. over the last two-three decades, it has expanded elsewhere in the world. That U.S. wheat should still be th...

Last Friday's USDA export sales report only served to re-affirm the torrid pace of U.S. soybean and soymeal exports in the current marketing year. It is be...

The EU allocated 819,000 MT of wheat export licenses last week, bringing the total to 16.7 MMT versus 10.8 MMT allocated at the same time last year. Millin...

Corn and wheat traded steady to higher most of the session, while soybeans had another day of back and forth trading. General Comments Markets were quiet a...

Those who default to the viewpoint that "big is bad" rarely get a good rebuttal. Now the U.S. Poultry and Egg Association has responded with a little histo...

The farm bill conference managers are pressing ahead with the final conference report today as they try to get conferees to sign off on it, even though som...

The Crop Revenue Coverage (CRC) program has provided U.S. farmers the same thing as an enormously good put option on up to 85 percent of their proven...

Chinese society's public debate on GM food has greatly intensified and evolved from a health issue to one of national security. China's Beef Price Soars be...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

USDA's sales totals in today's weekly export sales report did nothing to attract buying in the soy complex, although the market did climb back and trade ju...

The ethanol industry is arguing about the impact on corn prices and the farm economy from a reduced RFS. Ethanol on Offensive Before Comment Period Ends In...

India, Vietnam, and Indonesia are the next three largest growth areas for soymeal usage after China. All three countries have now begun to see consistent s...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Canada has an enormous transportation problem that is likely unprecedented, and it might rival Brazil in terms of shipping delays before all is said and do...

The UN's International Resource Panel is concerned that water, soil and biodiversity will suffer trying to meet rising global food demand and recommends co...

In the first seven months of 2013/14 (April–October 2013), foreign direct investment (FDI) in the food processing sector was $2.15 billion, and there are e...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Seeing a physical blend wall that creates a gap between the amounts of corn-based ethanol the industry can produce and can be absorbed in the gasoline mark...

The influence of enlarged corn production in the U.S., Brazil, Ukraine and other producing countries has created a new bearish psychology for the corn mark...

Wheat was today's market leader with gains of 7-9 cents for SRW, HRW and HRS futures. Lowering world wheat prices are attracting demand. General Comments T...

There are fewer cattle in most exporting countries and continued strong demand in importing countries, especially Asia. Beef Shortage Lower feed prices are...

Crops in Brazil and Paraguay are developing under very good conditions. The Brazilian soybean crop is estimated to be about 90 MMT or more, and the Paragua...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

India may have brought the world the numeric system, but it gives few favors these days when it comes to trade. Museum of Farming Britain is the perfect le...

Even though Brazilian soybeans may be $0.80 or more cheaper than U.S. soybeans, the Chinese are going to be reluctant to switch unless they feel confident...

Russia exported 681,827 MT of corn in December 2013. That is a record monthly volume for Russia at 15.7 percent more than November 2013 and triple the amou...

Hot, dry conditions over southern and western Argentina had been one of the key fundamental support pillars for the soy market, and the weekend rains kicke...

The Chinese government announced that it will discontinue stockpiling soybean and cotton this year as a way to support farmer income. Instead, it plans to...

Overall, the U.S. government is starting the new year on a trend toward deficit reduction. This is largely as the result of two trends.Looking back on CY 2...

The concern has always been that the mere fact that food products are required to be labeled as containing GM ingredients would be taken by the public as e...

The World Economic Forum (WEF) is underway in Davos, Switzerland, and several major corporate leaders reportedly aren't bothering to participate. Inconsequ...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

USAID is providing funds in Ghana for the installation of easy-to-operate corn shelling equipment that can be used by all farmers there. This new equipment...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

As India's pulse production has increased, it now wants to lift the ban on exports in 2014. This will help raise the domestic prices to farmers who would o...

Some producers will choose to spend less on crop inputs when profits are projected to be slim or none. That is the case as we head in to the 2014 planting...

Soybeans and soymeal posted a mini-rally at the close that took March futures to the plus side and brought November futures to a 4-cent gain on the day. Ge...

Groups continue to work toward a solution as the pressure of a two-year delay in the farm bill is mounting on dairy interests as the last holdout. As we r...

The irony is that when non-GMO becomes commoditized, organic product companies like Amy's and Earth's Best that are pushing for GMO labeling will eventuall...

Today's grain and oilseed prices.   Some other text...

The role played by excessive speculation is a curious one. It seems that it only occurs when prices are rising, never when they are falling.As Gary Blument...

U.S. new soybean export sales have to drop back substantially at some point soon, or there have to be significant cancellations of sales. Otherwise, the U...

The U.S. Departments of Agriculture and Health and Human Services' nutrition guidelines are due for renewal in 2015. Meat and livestock groups will push to...

The dairy provision in the new farm bill appears to be getting worked out, but now cotton is rearing its ugly head. New Farm Bill Trouble The dairy provisi...

Overnight trading volume for grain and the soy complex continued the recent slowing trend, but daytime volume picked up after USDA's weekly export sales re...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Argentina's announced export quota of 1.5 MMT on wheat has left wheat market participants very disappointed with this policy development. They had been exp...

The trade liberalization agenda had the most momentum in years as 2013 was coming to a close, but now 2014 looks to be full of hurdles. Trade Agenda at Ris...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Russia has exported 16.384 MMT of grains since the beginning of MY 2013/14. That is a 25.3 percent increase compared to the 13.077 MMT exported during the...

With the possible exception of old crop soybeans and soymeal, there is presently the absence of the kind of fundamental tensions that encourage trading and...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The plan released yesterday afternoon provides final FY 2014 discretionary funding levels for all 12 annual appropriations bills at a total of $1.012 trill...

Better than expected retail sales results for December sent stock markets higher today following earlier January losses. China reportedly turned down more...

The saga over horse slaughter in the U.S. is a repeating nightmare for both its proponents and opponents. This time around, horse slaughter opponents used...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Kenya has set a target to double corn production in the next five years. The government also said that it will be promoting a change in the local diet to r...

Although most analysts pay little attention to grain sorghums, there were major changes to 2013 production that necessitated signifcant changes in the 2013...

Global soybean demand is strong, but not strong enough to handle a 30 MMT increase in combined North and South American soybean production in the same cale...

Realizing that limited arable land and scarce water resources could restrict agricultural production, China has vowed to boost the seed industry to ensure...

If not explicitly welcomed by Congress, EPA's proposal was met with quite a sigh of relief as it cleared a contentious issue from the must-do legislative l...

The market is having trouble accepting the fact that last Friday's USDA corn numbers might have signaled a change in the corn outlook.The market's reaction...

Soybeans are supposed to be weakening as the demand leaves North America and crops in South America continue to look good. The problem is that the demand h...

Assuming the Ukrainian feed grains surplus is 18 MMT this year, 10 MMT remain for the period of January-September, which is a record high for this point in...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

With over an acre of land per inhabitant, Hawaii imports 92 percent of its food. By contrast, the Chinese have about one-fifth of an acre of arable land pe...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The corn and soybean estimates were not nearly as bearish as predicted by most analysts, while wheat held its own surprise.USDA unloaded the biggest series...

Creating change through the use of labeling and taxes is not so simple.The International Association for the Study of Obesity suggests that the solution to...

Growing per capita incomes in India have led to changes in household food baskets and a tremendously increased demand for dairy products. The rapidly...

Today's USDA corn numbers clearly caught the market by surprise with a decrease in production and a 1 December quarterly stocks number of more than 300 mil...

Each of the House and Senate bills provides its own proposed program for dairy producers' margin insurance. As we reported in a brief update yesterday, th...

Food manufacturers are asking the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to develop a national rule on biotech food labeling. There are ample legal mechan...

The pervasive feeling is that the sum of tomorrow's USDA reports will be bearish with increased corn and soybean production as well as big quarterly corn s...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

We have no doubt that the CME futures markets attract a greater diversity of commercial and speculative traders from around the world than any other agricu...

The House and Senate farm bill conference did not meet today as had been expected. The issues were allegedly regarding food aid and dairy programs. The Ho...

Smithfield and its hog production subsidiary, Murphy-Brown, are asking their contract sow-growers to convert their facilities from gestation stalls to grou...

Net new export sales of U.S. soybeans last week totaled only 155,000 MT. However, this year's total is 41.248 MMT, 2.7 percent above USDA's December foreca...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Russia is charging the EU with improper antidumping procedures due to faulty dumping margin calculations, while the country itself was found to have impose...

Mykola Kulbida, Director of the Ukrainian Meteorological Center, reported on 30 December that the continuous period of warm weather affecting Ukraine, espe...

Brazilian farmers have sold about 40 percent of their soybean production, well below the last campaign. There is still a large volume to trade, but there m...

Today's announcement that China had bought more U.S. soybeans had less influence on price than prudent action. General Comments It is stating the obvious t...

Ten new drought-tolerant varieties of corn are being released in Africa: four types in Uganda, three types in Kenya and another three slated soon in Tanzan...

Most activists solely state the need to remove antibiotics from livestock production in order to solve antibiotic resistance. Addressing the human-based ca...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Grain and soy markets are treating Friday's 2014 version of USDA January reports as being very important to future price direction. General Comments USDA's...

USDA announced today that U.S. exporters have sold an additional 350,000 MT of soybeans to China for shipment in 2013/14. This should send a signal to the...

You might say that today's sales report provides an exclamation point to the curious anomaly that has developed for the U.S. and world soybean outlook and...

There are both mandatory and  several politically-motivated high priority items. Obviously, all of these issues have implications for the 2014 mid-ter...

China's domestic protein market surged recently as a result of the tightening DDGS import policy. Some large domestic importers are now worried about the f...

The devil is in the details, which are sparse at this moment. Indeed, there is not even confirmation right now that all the provisions in both the House an...

The primary reason for these expectations is that nearly everyone expects that U.S. corn and soybean production estimates will be increased.USDA will relea...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The weekly export inspections numbers were released and showed that 56.5 million bushels of soybeans were exported during last week's holiday-shortened wee...

Humans are fretting the deep cold temperatures savaging the U.S. this winter. However, it may be good for crops. White House Drives Ethanol Policy EPA has...

This morning's weekly export sales report again showed bullish soybean sales with corn and wheat sales below expectations. General Comments Markets were mi...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

A widely-referenced paper on the trials and effects of biotech food crops has been discredited by the journal that published it. There is now no serious sc...

We are coming out of long bull run for commodities despite a recession in 2008-09, or maybe, in part, because of that recession.We are coming out of long b...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

We are currently projecting a reduction in U.S. winter wheat acres. However, we see big differences between hard red winter (HRW) and soft red winter (SRW)...

Farmers were sent checks from the government when corn was $7/bushel but now will not receive a direct payment when corn is down to $4/bushel. Contradictio...

Livestock feed price ratios forecast for December 2013 already show dramatic changes over the past two years in terms of livestock profitability.Feed Outlo...

Although China has thus far rejected a relatively small amount of U.S. DDGS because it contains an unapproved Syngenta biotech event, the rejections are ha...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The market's price action since Christmas has turned technical charts for all three markets seriously negative. General Comments Please note that the weekl...

What we are unable to forecast are the inevitable surprises that always appear.As we begin each New Year, it has become our habit to peer into our proverbi...

The food police, as Jayson Lusk at Oklahoma State likes to call them, are hoping that Mexico's newly enacted tax on sugary soft drinks will successfully se...

Until the agriculture sector achieves greater public understanding of its objectives, challenges and accomplishments, antagonists will fill the vacuum with...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The two factors driving farm financial health are farm income and borrowing costs. With farm real estate debt having increased substantially since 2008, th...

Hope obviously abounds in the Indonesian government. Yesterday the Indonesian Ministry of Agriculture forecasted that country's soybean production in 2014...

Perhaps more than anything else, 2013's final session demonstrated how interconnected various commodities can become. General Comments The last trading ses...

Middle Eastern markets, especially Iran, were buyers of Indian soymeal in 2012/13, but it is expected that those exports to the region will drop in 2013/14...

The fundamental story line for 2013 is the rather dramatic transition from tight supplies and the need to limit demand at the beginning of the year to the...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

What is most surprising, perhaps, is that the top income earners have fared worse as an overall group than any other since the 2008-09 recession. While Co...

There was rain in Cordoba, Argentina over the weekend that gave us a weak tone in the soy complex. There wasn't any news in the corn market, so the weaknes...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The question for today is: to what extent has the GM revolution in corn and soybeans resulted in yield increases?John Baize had an interesting piece last w...

Survey work commissioned by the U.S. Farmers & Ranchers Alliance found that the vast majority of consumers want more information and transparency appli...

While the DDGS component of the Chinese feed market is still relatively small, it is an important one for U.S. DDGS as it accounts for 58 percent of all ex...

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

The weekly U.S. export sales report was released this morning, and corn sales were more than double the anticipated number with soybean and wheat sales als...

Uncertainty remains the key certainty going into 2014.Two seemingly conflicting forecasts for 2014 involve concurrent value accretion for the U.S. dollar a...

Many analysts have discussed India's divided demographic and how it will pave the way for the country's economic growth. While there is a great deal of pot...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Ukraine exported 17.6 MMT of grains as of 23 December and from the beginning of MY 2013/14. This is an increase of 27.7 percent compared to the same period...

China is currently short of domestic production in the face of growing demand and prices have more than tripled since the 2003 BSE ban. China Beef Trade Te...

Today's markets were greeted with an improved weather outlook for both southern Brazil and Argentina. This has the effect of emphasizing that prospects for...

Because the political far left and far right are now conspiring against trade liberalization, it is speculated that TPA will not be considered in Congress...

What might make our predictions somewhat unique is that at the end of each year we go back and grade ourselves on how well or how poorly we did. Seldom hav...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

If global soybean demand continues to rise over the next decade at the same pace as it has since 2000/01, the world will need an additional 70-80 MMT of so...

A survey of American attitudes toward biotech food by the global research company NPD Group sends a warning and a message of opportunity. Lame Duck Honesty...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

USDA provided some interest for the soybean market when it announced that a total of 185,000 MT of soybeans were sold to unknown with 120,000 MT of that fo...

The farm bill may face some competition for floor time from a new move to extend emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) when Congress reconvenes in Janu...

We must remember that the Climate Prediction Center (CPC) climate outlooks are based on an analysis of what appear to be the most likely long-term trends a...

It now appears Indian soy industry officials agree that India's 2013 soybean crop will not be anywhere near as large as the 12–13 MMT that some in India we...

In its December review, Strategie Grains revised its wheat export estimate for the current campaign upward to 24 MMT versus 19.6 MMT exported last year. Mi...

The lack of definition makes for some potentially problematic and unintended consequences were the term to be codified.Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

In asking organic shoppers for the scientific basis of their shopping decisions, it turns out their actions are largely based on intuition rather than the...

USDA announced the sale of 120,000 MT of old crop soybeans to unknown for the current marketing year. This was a small surprise since the market has been w...

In a recent economic planning meeting, the Chinese government proposed focusing the nation's economic growth in 2014 on safe, balanced and green developmen...

The obvious result of a magnificent production season will be that ending supplies of virtually every crop in Canada will rise, and the logistical problem...

Wheat still struggles to find any consistent buying as the funds keep adding to their record short positions. General Comments Markets were lower in the ov...

A few representatives from Chinese companies have been roaming around the northern Plains and visiting country grain elevator (silo) companies. According t...

Former USDA officials Dan Glickman and Kathleen Merrigan assert in a Los Angeles Times article that allowing organic foods to be labeled as GMO-free would...

What is interesting is the potential domino effect this nomination would have politically if it leads (as it probably will) to Baucus leaving the Senate be...

GOI has agreed to provide a bailout package of $1.06 billion to the sugar industry that will be released as interest-free loans to the mills. The sugar mil...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

There has been something of a symbiotic relationship between commodities and inflation for a long time. The best current example of the use of soybeans as...

President Obama has two near-term priorities. However, a proposed nomination and a tin-eared USTR now threaten those two goals. Trade Agenda Hits Skids Pre...

The National Pork Producers Council and American Farm Bureau Federation, together with a number of other groups, said that they are likely to oppose the en...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The larger-than-expected weekly export sales for corn and wheat were still not large enough to light a fire under either market. General Comments Overnight...

Reports out of India indicate that the country's soymeal exporters are having difficulty lining up new sales because of high prices. Deliveries of soybeans...

Opening the meeting of the Russian-Ukrainian Interstate Commission on 17 December, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the intention of Russia, Ukra...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The Fed's announced tapering and its low interest rate commitment did nothing for grain and soy markets that for now are off in their own worlds. General C...

As one lobbyist euphemized, getting TPA through Congress is going to require a few bridges to be built in various districts and states. Building Bridges Th...

ANEC authorities are now seeking a new way to determine the priority of vessels in the Paranagua port. They are trying to maintain liquidity in the Paranag...

Brazil's soybean farmers have had to deal with two major problems this year: caterpillars that have inflicted substantial crop damage and a rainy December...

There are plenty of policy wonks conveniently picking what serves their biased positions.Forum shopping is more typically associated with litigating existi...

Many of the relatively new factors that can affect market cycles are the result of economic and market globalization and integration.Every freely traded ma...

With recent news about the U.S. economy generally positive, it is widely expected that the Fed will soon cut back on its stimulus efforts through the month...

Black Sea wheat supplies are diminishing and Middle East & North Africa (MENA) buyers are going to have to look to other sources until the next harvest...

The bottom line is that the refinery capacity in the Gulf is now less dependent on imported oil than ever before.As we reported yesterday, the talking poin...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The EU allocated 780,000 MT of wheat export licenses last week, bringing the total to 12.5 MMT versus 8.5 MMT allocated at the same time last year. Milling...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Weekly export inspections for wheat were in the expected range at 17.6 million bushels. The pace is now 41 percent ahead of last year. General Comments Cor...

The standard solution of most marketing analysts to the prospect of lower prices is to tell their producer clients to sell this year's crop plus the antici...

With or without e-15, one of the brewing clashes is the one coming between corn and advanced ethanol. There are only so many gallons of transportation fuel...

China' leaders reportedly expressed strong interest in feed production investment in Bulgaria at a recent summit with their counterparts from Central and E...

Of interest to agriculture, offsets for the cost of providing conservation assistance to private farm and ranch lands are included in the budget package.Th...

Corn has become a follower of the weakness in the soy complex. The situation with the prohibited GM corn variety in China is still unresolved, and there ar...

The demand for vegetable oils in India has increased over the years. Current additional factors affecting the growth in imports are the delay in the s...

One must question why the government allows U.S. biodiesel blenders to capture the tax credit for exported biodiesel when the objective of the blender cred...

While Europe is now abandoning its dairy production quotas, congressional farm bill conferees are flirting with adopting the old EU policy of supply-limiti...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The markets (and most market analysts) are either all in or all out, and there has been no better evidence of this phenomenon than what has happened this y...

The Volcker Rule's prohibition on proprietary trading by banks will directly affect today's derivative markets. A number of major banks have already closed...

The FDA has come out with a plan for limiting veterinary pharmaceuticals that have human uses. In the end, the rule is somewhat of a relief to the meat ind...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Demand for U.S. corn appears threatened by the Chinese rejections of corn shipments containing the not yet approved MIR162 GM event. Traders fear the volum...

The military's interest in biofuel is purportedly fueled by paranoia about dependence on foreign sources of oil, but those sources are mainly Canada and Me...

One would expect trade to calm down the day following a major USDA report. That was certainly the case to an extreme with today's market. General Comments...

The same policymaker who pleaded with Congress to pass the farm bill has dismissed the one piece of leverage available for compelling congressional action...

The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange presently estimates that the total corn area is about 3.3 million hectares, a decrease of 10 percent year-on-year. This acr...

Russia's November 2013 barley exports totaled 182,547 MT, 53 percent less than October 2013 and 46 percent less than November 2012. 71 percent of the...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Wheat traders seemed put off by the fact that USDA actually raised its estimate of U.S. ending stocks, although 10 million bushels one way or another does...

The official policy is that Beijing wants to be 95 percent self-sufficient in food, but the reality is that its effort to equalize rural and urban incomes...

It might be argued that today's WASDE was slightly bullish based on the fact that overall demand for grains and soybeans in both the U.S. and the world inc...

It now appears a situation may be developing that will lead to much lower soybean prices in the future as global soybean production in 2014 might be 24 MMT...

According to a recent report on GMOs in South Africa, 86 percent of corn planted is GM as well as 90 percent of soybeans. These crops are said to have...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

China has rejected somewhere between 10-20 cargos of U.S. corn found to have an unapproved GMO event. The next logical question is: what will happen if Chi...

China's tight wheat supply has resulted in a high domestic price that could lead millers and trading companies to start importing supplies as early as next...

By most accounts, the U.S. numbers should be slightly bullish and supportive to prices. The key ingredient will be how much, if any, USDA chooses to i...

Canada is having to sue the U.S. in the WTO as American politicians impose a country of origin labeling scheme intended to suppress imports of Canadian liv...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Much of the increase in food costs has been raw commodity price inflation that has generally started to reverse this year.Now is the time of the year when...

Weekly export inspections were all higher than expected. The bears continue to say the markets are finished, but demand doesn't seem to want to go away. Ge...

Rethinking AGOA Reauthorization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) needs to take into account the improved economic condition of some countri...

U.S. agriculture is better than a country cousin when comparing some of its statistics to health care. Ag Loses to TF The WTO deal possibly1 arrived at in...

There is still some uncertainty as to whether an extension will be needed to cover the period between now and January.Reportedly, the big four – the chairm...

It now seems that the WTO deal in Bali will have to wait as the Indian negotiators have not acceded to the rules that govern food subsidies. Eight of the 1...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Old crop soybean futures and basis have had a hard time weakening even with all the talk of a very bearish long-term soybean supply situation caused by pre...

The question now becomes, what will they do with this crop?Stats Canada's crop production update released on Wednesday of this week simply blew the wheat m...

The WTO's leadership is reportedly still trying to salvage a deal in Bali and has floated alternative language on a peace clause for India's proposed food...

The biggest and most emotional food issue we face comes from the advent of biogenetic modification of food crops. The fear is that GMO crops MIGHT pose som...

Deutsche Bank, Germany's largest bank and a major player in commodity markets, announced that it plans to exit almost all of its commodity trading activiti...

Reports out of China indicate the Chinese government will impose a consumption tax equivalent to $154/MT on biodiesel in January in an effort to reduce imp...

The goal of the program is to boost sales of Mexican cattle, but imports of live cattle and genetics are not prohibited, although the genetics program may...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

A month ago, official sources forecasted Argentine wheat production at 8.8 MMT.  Just several weeks ago, an official estimated that wheat exports woul...

As of 29 November and from the beginning of MY 2013/14, Ukraine exported 13.96 MMT of grains, an increase of 19.4 percent compared with the same period las...

It is fair to say that Canadian producers have never before experienced the yield and production results they are seeing in 2013. Crop scouts expected that...

If U.S. agriculture fails to achieve great inroads into the Japanese market via the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), it can thank American automakers. Capi...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Today's hedge selling in soybean futures appeared to result from a reported pick up in U.S. country movement and also from Brazil as an indication of some...

Grain and feed values will obviously be down in 2014, while oilseed export values are projected upward based on higher prices and strong early year sales o...

Argentina's government acted yesterday to assist the domestic biodiesel industry in offsetting losses in exports to Europe after the EU imposed punitive an...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

What is needed is a single website for food that operates like Urban Legends or Snopes and serves as the repository of what is peer-reviewed and replicated...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Whether or not the Volcker Rule is needed is a debate that has passed as it will soon be in place. However, there will remain plenty of questions as to how...

Agricultural experts in Africa are saying that the first priority regarding grains should be the storage and transportation systems where as much as 30 per...

Food regulators are trying to keep pace with market changes in the context of public ignorance and political opposition. Argentina – Dead Ahead In an inter...

The EU allocated 577,000 MT of wheat export licenses last week, bringing the total to 11.2 MMT versus 7.3 MMT a year ago at the same time. Milling Wheat Th...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Overnight strength gave way to some aggressive selling in the soybean market almost immediately after the day session opened. That took soybeans and corn l...

Current crop budget worksheets for 2014 look to be break-even at best. While cash prices for the 2014 crops have been weakening, cash rental rates and land...

China's leaders recently announced the first significant relaxation of the country's one-child policy in nearly 30 years. There are, however, certain impli...

The bottom line is that farm income has lifted up farm assets and equity. As expected, farm debt to equity and debt to assets are down.USDA's Economic Rese...

As Iran's relations with the West thaw, India could also accelerate investment in that country for its own interest as it is doing with the Port of Chabaha...

The government of Prime Minister Tony Abbott was sworn into office just over two months ago on a pledge of economic liberalism (and social conservatism) fo...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

USDA took several actions this year to intervene in the market to prop up prices, and this is the first time in a decade that it has had to do so.Ethanol m...

Weekly soybean sales totaled 1.4 MMT with 992,000 MT of the total to China. USDA also announced the sale of 110,000 MT of soybeans to China in MY 2014/15...

Deciding what to plant the last several years has been easy, but it will be quite different in 2014 based on the current market outlook.I was at a farm man...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The wheat market ignored the overnight sale of French wheat to Egypt and rumors that India was preparing to offer another 500,000 MT to 1 MMT for sale from...

High input costs this season are causing Argentine farmers to suffer from smaller margins. The depressed ARS peso and logistical espenses are also having a...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Agriculture is a much larger share of the Brazilian economy, but someone at USDA needs to start a campaign to stop the silliness that is helping countries...

Ukraine exported 12.8 MMT of grains as of 22 November and from the beginning of MY 2013/14. This was an increase of 15.8 percent compared to the same perio...

The EU today published the regulations imposing anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia. Both the Argentine and Indonesian go...

The Congressional Budget Office (CB0) has prepared scoring on a number of policy options that would help budget conference negotiators produce a budget by...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

The rich countries ought to suggest to India that it use a novel feature called the market for solving its sense of food insecurity. Market Solution for Ba...

The world's 2013 crop production so far seems to reflect a common denominator, which is that crops in most major producing countries turned out better than...

Some forex analysts are becoming quite bullish on the U.S. dollar in 2014. A stronger U.S. dollar would impede the competitiveness of U.S. grain, soybeans...

Turkey is expected to release up to 1.2 MMT from the government's 3 MMT of reserve stock local wheat into the country's market. This will certainly reduce...

As of 7 February, either the suspension will have to be extended or a new debt limit established. If not, the Treasury would have to resort to its extraord...

Most have blamed currency exchange and inflation issues for the lack of active selling by Argentine farmers. However, there are some differences of opinion...

The main reason for the high premium in Ukraine is that its corn has been accepted by all the major destinations as a reliable origin, and buyers are ready...

The day-to-day trading pattern of these markets has been one day of strength in the soy complex with weakness in corn and wheat, followed by the opposite a...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

Today's grain and oilseed prices...

China's retail milk price has been increasing significantly over the past few months due to the considerable raw milk shortage in the domestic market since...

Two of the biggest items on the table for the current farm bill conference are nutrition spending under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP...

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Transatlantic Frustrations It is difficult to imagine a successful Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) given that the two sides find so m...

General Comments Soybeans set the trading pace overnight with strong gains, and those gains pushed prices even higher when today's session started trading...

Corn and Soy Corn arrivals in Andhra have been increasing over the past two weeks, but the quality is mediocre. Current prices range from $181-190/MT at th...

The dominant news in the markets these days continues to be the overwhelmingly bearish attitudes surrounding every market except U.S. equities. Nearly all...

Nuclear Implications The decision by Senate Democrats to use the so-called "Nuclear Option" in order to increase their capacity for approving judicial cand...

Cattle Herd Rebuilding Has Begun Corn prices hit their lowest level in three years recently, providing relief to feeders. On top of that, pasture condition...

U.S. Soybean Industry Takes Sustainability Message to European Buyers I have been in Istanbul, Turkey this week attending a European Buyers Conference orga...

General Comments Grain and soy futures were firmer overnight, and volume was noticeably improved as traders anticipated that USDA's weekly export sales rep...

We think it is fair to say that markets have poor memories, collectively speaking This is not surprising as traders are always looking ahead. They measure...

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Russian Grain Markets: 13-19 November 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 19 November, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 41.5 million hectares, 94.3 p...

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General Comments Cliché though it may be, the word that best describes today's grain and soy futures market is quiet.  Trading ranges are small with o...

Ukraine and EU Ukraine has reportedly been torn over a closer association with the EU and its moral dictates versus alignment with Russia, but it may have...

Argentina: Change of Key Ministers Argentine President Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner refocused on her agenda after resting for more than a month due to he...

In the November edition of WPI's monthly publication, Ag Review, we covered the topic of Africa and agriculture. Specifically, we examined meat, milk and p...

Infrastructure Costs to Soybeans The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) has published the third in a series of books on Latin American integration with...

General Comments It was an outside down day for the soy complex, but the technically oversold corn and wheat markets finally found some support and managed...

U.S. stock market indices are setting new record highs about every other day, but commodity markets have been generally headed in the opposite direction. I...

Brazil Declares Emergency over Caterpillar Infestation in Soybeans Soybean farmers in the Brazilian states of Bahia and Mato Grosso are suffering big losse...

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  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Australia reports that the largest ever single shipment of barley (77,000 MT) has been sent to Saudi...

Acrylamide and TTIP As transatlantic negotiators look for ways to make their regulatory differences more coherent, the regulation of acrylamides presents a...

Milling Wheat The Russian wheat offer at the market remains unchanged from last week, but there were no reported trades or close buying interests.Egypt's G...

General Comments Corn and wheat spent the entire session trading lower, while soybeans and soymeal were higher. Corn continued to suffer a hangover from EP...

China Seeks Options to Increase Agricultural Output China finds it increasingly challenging for its agricultural sector to meet the food demand that is dri...

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It's been a pretty amazing month for the market bears. It's also been a pretty amazing month for the world's farmers, most of whom are nearly always some d...

This past Friday afternoon, USDA announced the third invitation round of the Feedstock Flexibility Program (FFP) to convert federally-held sugar into ethan...

EPA today released the proposed 2014 required volume obligations (RVOs) for 2014. The final version of the 2013 RVOs was released in early August of this y...

Indian Poultry Industry in Need of a New Vision The Indian poultry industry needs support from within (policy framework) as well as outside by way of new t...

General Comments Soybeans were the story of the day as people tried to figure out why they went from trading down 5-6 cents when markets reopened at 8:30 a...

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Low GHG Ambitions Negotiators from over 140 nations have begun the 19th session of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Warsaw, Poland where th...

Here are a few things to think about during this period of almost non-existent news surrounding the markets: This is from a press release from the state...

Big changes are underway at the CFTC. Its chairman, Gary Gensler, has made it known for quite some time that he intends to leave his post on 3 January 2014...

The U.S., EU and others have had trouble with the G-33's proposal for flexibility in operating domestic food stockholding programs due to the likelihood th...

General Comments Recall how prices sold off going into the November WASDE, only to realize that bearish anticipation was perhaps exaggerated. A repeat may...

New Jersey Election Over – Animal Welfare Politics Ongoing Republican Governor Chris Christie was re-elected in New Jersey to a second term this month. The...

U.S. Top Market for Argentine Biodiesel Now that the EU has imposed anti-dumping duties on imports of Argentine biodiesel, exporters have shifted their foc...

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General Comments Here are some snippets of information regarding exchange-traded futures and options volume during the first eight months of 2013 (January-...

Local Prices above Payment Capacity Argentine farmers are presently observing a condition in their local grain prices that has not existed during the past...

Rainforests versus People The Rainforest Action Network (RAN) and other environmental NGOs are concerned that the U.S. FDA's announced prohibition against...

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Russian Grain Markets: 6-12 November 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 12 November, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 41.2 million hectares, 93.6 pe...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Following comments made in Saudi Arabia over the past few weeks, the organization responsible for Sa...

Yesterday we laid out the trends in U.S. fuel consumption as well as the growth in domestic crude oil production. At the same time that report was being dr...

Big Export Inspections Last Week Today's USDA export inspection report indicated that it inspected 2.238 MMT of soybeans destined for export last week. Of...

Food Stamp Behavior Change Republicans seeking to cut food stamp spending via the farm bill largely worry about disincentives to work and personal responsi...

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General Comments USDA reported that as of last Sunday, 84 percent of the U.S. corn harvest was finished and 91 percent of the soybean harvest was complete...

The government shutdown in October turned the November WASDE into something quite unique. The forced cancelation of the October WASDE meant there was a two...

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Milling Wheat The Black Sea market feels a little heavy as there are not many buyers willing to pay current prices. The market went up too high and too qui...

Chinese Government Discusses Grain Planting Income Insurance for Next Year's Crops The Chinese government is continuing discussions regarding the replaceme...

Canada has just completed a Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with Europe, which beckons how it can inform negotiators meeting this week in...

The leaks of the most recently proposed ethanol volumes for 2014 underscore an issue that has been going on since 2007 – miles driven by American motorists...

Now that the USDA November series of reports are behind us, it's interesting to see the secondary market comments and ideas that were talked and written ab...

General Comments Today was a government holiday (Veterans Day) in the United States. Banks were also closed, but the markets all traded full sessions. The...

Indian Oil Meal Exports Surge in October Oil meal exports for April-October 2013 are reported at 2.019 MMT, which is up from the 1.749 MMT exported during...

It seems like it has been an eternity since the USDA last issued a production and supply and demand estimate. The fact is that it has been an eternity. The...

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Row Crops Should Help Apples USDA-APHIS has given the green light to Okanagan's "Arctic Apple," a fruit that has been genetically modified not to turn brow...

General Comments Today's markets were dominated by the November series of USDA reports that included yield and production updates and supply and demand rev...

The major crisis of the year so far was the October government shutdown. After three weeks, a deal was cut to reopen the government and set new dates for b...

Eliminating pure speculation on oil futures is a question of fairness.  The choice is between a world of hedge fund traders who make enormous amounts...

FDA Moves to Ban Use of Trans Fats in Foods The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) today proposed removing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils from...

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Eggs Are What the Hen Eats While Distiller's Dried Grains with Solubles (DDGS) are most suited to ruminants, rather than mongastric livestock, because of t...

General Comments Today's grain and soy futures markets turned more active than might have been expected on the day prior to USDA's very important November...

Wheat Market The chart below displays the Argentine milling rate per month for the prior three years. Argentine millers crushed 6.4 MMT during 2011, 6 MMT...

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Russian Grain Markets: 30 October-5 November 2013 Planting Updates As of 31 October, Russian farmers planted winter grain crops for the 2014 harvest on 14...

Agrifood and Minimum Wage The agrifood industry is paying attention to the fact that Senate Democrats will seek to pass a 39 percent increase in the mandat...

General Comments Grain and soy futures continued the same slow, grinding pattern of trade that has been around all week as traders brace for Friday's WASDE...

Rethinking AGOA Reauthorization of the African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) needs to take into account the improved economic condition of some countri...

General Comments The CFTC has argued that the Dodd-Frank legislation mandated that it establish speculative position limits for all exchange-traded commodi...

Today is Election Day in a number of states. Virginia and New Jersey will select a governor and legislators, while of more interest to agriculture, the sta...

Biofuel Impact The European Commission's Joint Research Centre has reportedly concluded that vegetable oil prices would trend downward by 50 percent withou...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Wadi Holdings and Medsofts have opened a joint venture Nile River grain port facility in Egypt, whic...

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Record Oilseed Production in Ukraine It appears that Ukraine's oilseed production will rise by 21 percent to a new record of about 14.45 MMT. At least that...

The situation surrounding USDA's November WASDE, to be released at noon EST Friday, 8 November, is unique. The recent government shutdown forced USDA to ca...

China's Soymeal Price Sees Upward Pressure Moving Forward China's cash soymeal price fluctuated lower the week of 28 October because of the ample bean supp...

The first major attack on Big Ag by New York Times reporter Michael Moss was in his book, "Salt Sugar Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us" (see Ag Perspecti...

The House of Representatives is in recess this week, meaning that the farm bill conference proper will likely not convene. However, staff work that proceed...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was quiet last week. The strength of the U.S. dollar has brought more sellers into the market, but the buyers are still...

Commentary Speculative selling of corn contracts has recently been emboldened by a composite of analysts and commentators repetitively noting that USDA is...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was quiet last week. The strength of the U.S. dollar has brought more sellers into the market, but the buyers are still...

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General Comments Markets started the month of November with lower trade in corn, soybeans and wheat futures markets. It was another day of a battle between...

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How Sweet it Isn't One the same day the news media is highlighting NPD Group data showing that Americans are eating more healthy foods, Gallup is reporting...

India Wheat Export Value Reduced – Local Prices Higher As the sowing season for wheat neared, GOI increased the Minimum Support Price of wheat to 14000 rup...

Farm Bill While there has been a great deal of speculation about how a farm bill might fit into a grand budget compromise that is coming before mid-Decembe...

I am in Western Australia (WA) this week, almost exactly half-way around the world from home. That also means an inordinate amount of time on airplanes. Th...

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Farm Bill Changes The House-Senate Farm Bill conference kicked off this week and among all the various thorny issues are two non-problems. The first is whe...

USDA released its long awaited export sales data dump that consisted of three weeks' worth of export sales compressed into a single report. Today's report...

Large U.S. Soy Export Sales Once Again As expected, today's USDA export sales report showed large U.S. export sales of soybeans and soymeal. Net soybean ex...

Farm Bill Conference – GIPSA, Battery Cages and COOL The 2013 Farm Bill conference committee convened yesterday for opening statements, and two key livesto...

General Comments "Buy the rumor, sell the fact." That old market cliché was clearly in play today. The combined three-week export sales report showed that...

Wetlands Deserve Input U.S. EPA announced that it would seek new formal rulemaking on the delineation of regulated wetlands under the Clean Water Act. Envi...

Russian Grain Markets: 23-29 October 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 24 October, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 40.2 million hectares, 91.3 per...

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General Comments Overnight trade in grains and soy took a cue from yesterday's late price recovery and started out higher. The mini-rally faded some during...

Wheat Brazilian millers are in a tight situation because they normally buy about 7 MMT per year of wheat, which primarily comes from Argentina, Uruguay and...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was very firm last week. However, we see more liquidity since last Friday as more sellers have started offering the Nove...

We are on the downhill slope of an unprecedented corn harvest. When the final tally is done, the U.S. corn crop of 2013/14 will be record large, exceeding...

Who says the art of letter writing has been lost? As of WPI's count, the House and Senate farm bill conferees have received nearly 20 letters in the month...

Near Record Week for U.S. Soybean Export Inspections Yesterday's USDA export inspections report indicated that 2.308 MMT of soybeans were inspected last we...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Egypt has decided to further reduce the nighttime curfew period to 0100-0500, except on Fridays when...

General Comments It seems a bit excessive to describe today's market action as Turnaround Tuesday, but at least markets did not follow yesterday's fund and...

Updating Japan Rice The Nikkei reported today that Japanese Prime Minster Shinzō Abe's government plans to change the country's rice price support mechanis...

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China Takes Measures to Minimize Environmental Impact of Livestock Farming China's State Council, the government's cabinet, recently passed regulations on...

Cotton versus Textiles The so-called "Cotton Four" (C-4) African countries pushing for an end to subsidies on cotton in rich countries have apparently modi...

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Today's weekly export grain inspection numbers were the biggest they've been in a very long time at over 127 million bushels (more than 3.5 MMT). It was th...

Senators Ed Whitfield (R-Kentucky) and Joe Manchin (D-West Virginia) are planning to unveil legislation today that would put a roadblock in front of the Ob...

General Comments This was not a pretty day in the agricultural commodity markets. Corn, wheat and soybean prices were slightly lower overnight, but those l...

Changing Eating Habits – New Entrants in Business Although the share of GDP from basic agriculture is falling, that of animal production within agriculture...

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Meat Opportunity At least one major company has announced that as a result of Washington's harsh approach to country of origin labeling (COOL), it no longe...

Huge U.S. Soymeal Export Sales Last Week The USDA weekly export sales report that was released yesterday was notable for the huge weekly amount of soymeal...

General Comments It was (again) a very quiet overnight trading session with small gains in wheat and small losses in corn and soybean futures. The day sess...

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...

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe's government has been battling deflation and appears to be making some headway, based on its latest release of statistic...

General Comments Today's USDA's weekly shutdown-delayed export sales report covered the week that ended 3 October. Traders and analysts were looking forwar...

Catching Up With the extended federal government shutdown, livestock marketing statistics are catching back up and the markets that rely on them for transp...

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Some economists have theorized that there is a common thread in terms of national agricultural policies among countries as their economies transition throu...

Throwing Mud Animal agriculture groups are defending their constituency against a report by John Hopkins Center for a Liveable Future that claims public po...

Wheat Egyptian tenders have historically been a good way to measure the competitiveness of wheat from different global origins. Assuming that condition con...

General Comments Starting with overnight trade, it was a rally day for grain and soybean futures with prices reaching impressive gains at their peak. CME w...

Russian Grain Markets: 16-22 October 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 21 October, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 39.7 million hectares, 90.2 per...

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General Comments The U.S. Labor Department announced that the U.S. added fewer jobs during September than analysts expected – 148,000 versus 193,000 in Aug...

From late June-August of 1972, officials of Exportkhleb, the Soviet Union's government grain trading agency, traveled to New York and Washington, DC where...

Coming into the 2012 Farm Bill, there was one sure consensus among producers and the lawmakers who crafted the bill – crop insurance was to be its cornerst...

  News Updates With the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region closed for the Eid holidays last week, new developments in the grain business have...

Huge Soybean Export Inspections Last Week The U.S. soybean harvest may have been a bit later than normal this year, but U.S. exports are clearly catching u...

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Brinksmanship occurs when an event is pushed to the verge of potentially devastating losses in hopes of achieving an advantageous outcome. Washington recen...

Data Users' Angst This year's USDA Data Users meeting was dominated by the impacts of the government shutdown. Private industry analysts were anxious to le...

2013 Grains and Oilseeds Production Estimates China National Grain & Oil Information Center (CNGOIC) released its estimate of the country's 2013 grains...

General Comments Markets were steady to higher overnight, led by soybean futures. That trend continued in this morning's session, but wheat lost its gains...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market has made a spectacular rally during the last week, because of the lack of farmer selling and overbooked port capacity fo...

Now that the government has reopened, Congressional Budget Committee Chairmen Senator Patty Murray (D-Washington) and Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin...

We tend to always focus on the major crops of wheat, corn and soybeans. Most analysts do that because those are the crops that have futures markets. They d...

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In the movie "Groundhog Day," actor Bill Murray's character gets caught in a time warp and wakes up in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania on that day, facing the s...

CETA Implications Canada and the EU completed a trade agreement, the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA), with both impacts on their bilatera...

Increased Minimum Support Price for Grains Next Season While the Ministry of Agriculture has recommended an increase in the Minimum Support Price (MSP) of...

General Comments It was a catch-up day for USDA today. It did announce some soybean export sales this morning of 220,000 MT to China and 140,000 MT to unkn...

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The domestic and export soybean basis remain strong and, in fact, have been strengthening throughout this harvest. There are several reasons: The old cro...

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Slaughter Estimates While the federal government is shut down and the Ag Marketing Service reports are unavailable, below is our estimate of cattle and hog...

The CFTC announced yesterday that J.P. Morgan Chase has agreed to pay a fine of $100 million related to the activities of one of its derivative trading des...

General Comments The U.S. government, including USDA, reopened today following the passage of the interim legislation to temporarily fund the government an...

Paraguay President Vetoes Export Taxes on Soybeans, Corn and Wheat The President of Argentina today vetoed the legislation passed by the congress that woul...

General Comments Facing the risk that the government's cash flow will turn negative tomorrow (17 October) and threats that the U.S. credit rating could be...

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South American Soybean Market Developments The few old-crop soybeans in South America are being retained by Argentine farmers as a protective hedge against...

Don't Get Fooled Again The corn market took a brief dive on a report that Mexico would ban imports of biotech corn, but it shouldn't have even blinked once...

Russian Grain Markets: 9-15 October 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 14 October, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 38 million hectares, 86.3 percen...

As we all know too well, the government shutdown continues to block nearly all of USDA's daily, weekly and monthly reports. We suppose it requires a shutdo...

Before the government shutdown, the rollout of Obamacare and the Treasury Department being on the brink of exceeding its borrowing authority under the debt...

Big USDA Soybean Inspections Last Week The Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS) reported today that 47.381 million bushels (1.29 MMT) of soybeans were i...

Bittman Helps Big Ag Mark Bittman at the New York Times is hypercritical of industrial agriculture, but his latest rant promises it a bright future. Bittma...

General Comments In the absence of much in the way of fresh news, overnight trading was mixed and light in volume with wheat still struggling against last...

We wrote yesterday that the House passed two resolutions instructing conferees to: Seek the repeal of the sugar program. Support a Senate amendment to li...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Syria is said to be having some success with its plans to pay for grain imports using blocked funds in fore...

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Golden Week Invigorates the Economy China's Ministry of Commerce (MOC) announced on 8 October that the national retail and catering sector sales revenue re...

Fama Analysis on USDA The Nobel prize just won by Eugene Fama, Lars Peter Hansen and Robert Shiller has an important relationship to the current lack of US...

If you live in farm country, every other radio and television ad is about selling planting seeds for 2014. This must seem terribly early for those who don'...

General Comments Markets were mixed overnight, with soybeans holding gains and the initial strength in wheat losing ground by early morning. Corn was basic...

The federal government is still closed, but the farm bill conference has finally started. As we reported on 11 October, the House cleared the way to appoin...

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Rich and Sugar Targeted The House voted to go to conference with the Senate over the 2013 Farm Bill, and on Saturday will consider explicit instructions to...

President Obama met with a group of House Republicans on Thursday and Senate Republicans this morning. The agenda for both meetings was how to reopen the g...

General Comments Corn and soybean markets were quite weak today and there weren't many good reasons why. Here is some of today's market chatter: Concerns...

It is a rare occasion when farmers should actually hope that prices collapse, but that's exactly what they should be hoping for in the month of October. Th...

Effects of Excess Rainfall Per the Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), the entire country received 106 percent of its Long Period Average (LPA) rainfal...

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Slaughter Estimates While the federal government is shut down and the Ag Marketing Service reports are unavailable, below is our estimate of cattle and bee...

TTIP Dance EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht tried to reassure Europeans that the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) will not worsen...

In terms of the 2013 U.S. grain and soy harvests and what they may mean for supply and demand balances, most of the analytical attention seems to be focuse...

General Comments The lack of market information from USDA and the trading position of large speculators are creating an unrepeatable buying opportunity for...

Paraguay Approves 10 Percent Export Tax on Soybeans, Corn and Wheat Paraguay's Chamber of Deputies yesterday approved a 10 percent export tax on soybeans,...

Middle East Food and Demographics Countries in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region vary greatly in size of population, agricultural resources and fo...

Corn The Argentine corn crop is not starting off well due to inadequate soil moisture in most of the core areas due to lack of rain that is delaying planti...

Ethanol Reduction The ethanol industry has been under attack on Capitol Hill and now it is reported that U.S. EPA will propose cutting the corn ethanol ble...

General Comments Grain and soy futures played on both sides of Tuesday's closes without much in the way of direction during overnight trading and again dur...

Russian Grain Markets: 2-8 October 2013 Harvesting Updates: As of 8 October, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 36.9 million hectares, 83.8 perce...

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Record Canadian Canola Crop Statistics Canada sharply increased its forecast on Friday for that country's 2013 canola crop. It raised its forecast from 14...

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General Comments Stronger Chinese futures markets and still-circulating rumors that China bought as much as 800,000 MT of U.S. corn gave some impetus to a...

There was a great deal of pressure put on the 2013/14 U.S. corn crop. The severe Midwestern drought and heat wave during the summer of 2012 was devastating...

The tactical standoff between the Democratic-controlled Senate and the Republican-controlled House continued into today. The Senate held a vote on requirin...

  News Updates While the exact dates will vary by country, it appears that Eid Al Adha will begin on either 14 or 15 October. Most private companies w...

Ministers meeting in Bali on the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotiations made a very strong and hopeful statement that negotiators would "now pr...

One of the interesting sideshows of the U.S. government shutdown is its impact on the agricultural futures markets. It's interesting because there's no way...

General Comments We started week number two of the U.S. government shutdown today with no indication that any solution is near. That means at least several...

The U.S. government shutdown is now entering its second week. It is a symptom of the inability of Congress and the administration to come to terms on a fed...

Negotiation Similarity If one wanted to see the divide between Washington politicians over the budget in another context, one can just read about trade neg...

Milling Wheat The rains in Eastern Europe have finally stopped and the winter grain plantings in Ukraine and Russia have resumed. Last week, the planted ar...

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General Comments Markets were mixed in the overnight trade and for the first few hours of trade today. Corn and soybeans turned higher after Informa's late...

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It shouldn't be a surprise to anyone who knows how to use a calculator that net farm income in 2013 and 2014 will likely be well below the record levels of...

Updating NAFTA Major companies in the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) countries have written the three political leaders (Obama, Harper and Pen...

Shutdown As both parties attempt to shift blame on the federal government shutdown, House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) is considering going bac...