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General Comments Corn and soy futures prices continued the down one day and up the next pattern of recent days. Traders are parsing every weather model run...

Deutsche Bank has issued a report highlighting the additional cost of non-tariff barriers. For example, while EU food exporters face average U.S. tariffs o...

General Comments Following yesterday's sharp jump in grain and soy futures prices, a Turnaround Tuesday sort of consolidation seemed almost inevitable. Sti...

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As we have reported on both 6 August and 13 August, EPA is finalizing rules for the 2014 required volume obligations (RVO) for biofuels, and there is much...

In many respects, the U.S. wheat year of 2013/14 will be a strange one. Much of the hard red winter (HRW) crop was planted in drought conditions last fall...

Tight Cottonseed Supplies Forecasted Again for MY 2013/14 MY 2013/14 is shaping up to be another bad one for U.S. cottonseed processors if USDA's forecasts...

Russian Grain Market: 15-20 August 2013 Harvesting Updates Grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 17.7 million hectares (3.4 million hectares less th...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea harvest pressure seems to be over. Farmers' selling has decreased significantly as the majority of the winter wheat has already...

Wrong Turn on Supply Controls We noted back on 12 August how French egg farmers were grousing about heavy financial losses as their Dutch counterparts were...

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While Congress is on its August recess – or sometimes referred to as district work sessions break – there is much focus on the farm bill. Lawmakers have be...

July is corn's month because that's when pollination takes place. August is soybean's month because that's when blooming and pod setting take place. This y...

General Comments Markets opened stronger than expected Sunday evening led by soybeans that started out 10 to 15 cents higher. Soybeans quite quickly moved...

Chinese Government's Seed Industry Concerns Chinese industry and government officials recently showed concern about the nation's seed industry crisis, and...

Sucks at Supplicating Michael Needham of the conservative policy advocacy group Heritage Action says Congress should extend the 2008 Farm Bill for another...

We reported on 29 July that the final rule for the long anticipated Feedstock Flexibility Program (FFP) was announced. The FFP is intended to avoid sugar l...

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Capital Controls for Stemming Rupee Devaluation and Economic Glide The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed partial capital control on companies and individ...

General Comments Markets started the evening session firm but what little strength there was gradually eroded to small losses and little action throughout...

Soybean export sales in this week's USDA report totaled 1.9 MMT. That ranks as one of the top five weeks in history and exceeded only a few times back in 2...

Recall that the bearish 28 June Acre report caused a sharp sell-off in the December corn contract; down to about $4.90 per bushel. End-users found that to...

Proof of Principle for In Vitro Burger Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands served a hamburger last week in London that was cult...

General Comments The color theme for grain and soy complex futures today was firmly green. Prices began to move higher overnight as trading volume picked u...

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Constituent Service? Credit John McCormick and Greg Giroux over at Bloomberg for revealing a delicious irony in the food stamp debate. They analyzed USDA d...

Big New Crop Soybean Sales Last Week Today's USDA export sales report showed U.S. exporters made exceptionally large new crop soybean sales last week. The...

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Russian Grain Market: 8-14 August 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 12 August, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 16.7 million hectares (3.7 million...

General Comments The smaller estimated U.S. corn yield and production in Monday's WASDE kicked corn futures prices higher. By Tuesday, doubts about USDA's...

Conflicting Food Safety Rules Trade negotiators in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) negotiatio...

MARKETS Recent weakness of the real and the bounce in CBOT soybeans produced a good volume of farmer selling. On Tuesday it was estimated that about 1.5 MM...

Well! Those U.S. corn and soybean production estimates from USDA/NASS contained in yesterday's August WASDE provided another instance to show that we in th...

USDA Makes Questionable Cut in Forecasted U.S. Soybean Yield Yesterday's USDA crop production report surprised a lot of analysts by making a substantial cu...

General Comments Yesterday's lower crop yield and production estimates caught a bearishly oversold futures market leaning in the wrong direction which led...

As we wrote on 6 August, EPA issued its 2013 required volume obligations (RVOs) for biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and notified the marke...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The Iraqi Ministry of Trade has announced that the current wheat stocks on hand are sufficient t...

What's in the Beef Over the years, the popular restaurant chain Chipotle has aired commercials denigrating factory farms while promoting an image of its fa...

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General Comments Corn and wheat markets were sluggish overnight while soybeans exhibited some strength based on disappointing rains over the weekend across...

Surprises are surprises because they happen when you least expect them to happen. So it was with today's August USDA WASDE report. Here's what happened in...

Location, location, location. That's the name of the game in real estate and also in commodities. It's all about the basis. This is especially true about U...

Market Quips A selection of recent comments in the meeting rooms of Washington... NSA Spying: During a conference call about implementation of the Dodd-F...

China Explores Professional Farmer Training The Chinese government recently initiated the nationwide concept of professional farmers and is starting to exp...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week. The Ukrainian and Russian harvest is proceeding in favorable weather conditions. The...

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India's Oil Meal Exports Down, Iran Remains Biggest Buyer India's oil meal exports contracted by 24.26 percent to 1.027 MMT in the first four months (April...

General Comments Soybeans benefited from some residual buying overnight following yesterday's strong close, but that buying barely lasted until daylight wh...

Clients may recall the disruptive regional dairy policy known as the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact (NEIDC) which was in place from 1996- 2002. If not,...

Vilsack's Threat USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a clever, even if flawed threat by saying USDA would not be able to make full or continuing compensation...

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Yesterday afternoon a private analytical group released their estimate of U.S. corn and soybean production. The corn number was slightly above the USDA Jul...

Sizable New Crop Soy Export Sales, Soymeal Sale to China Today's export sales report from USDA continued the trend of recent weeks of very small old crop e...

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A Lot of Poor Mouths to Feed in Next Decade There will be more mouths to feed in the future but many will reside in the poorest countries and where governa...

General Comments Monday's important WASDE looms over the markets, but it was not the only factor in play today. Cash markets, export sales and weather all...

Beef Cattle and DDGS Demand Last week, Livestock Roundup covered the topic of beef production which was the lowest 1 July beef herd since at least 1973 and...

As we have commented before, USDA's August WASDE is always notable because it contains the first crop yield and production estimates for U.S. corn and soyb...

Reports and Open Trading Hours Now that USDA reports are being released during open trading hours, it is clear that there is a spike in both volatility and...

Major Concern about Impact of Excess Rainfall on Indian Soybean Crop I was in Mumbai, India at the end of last week to attend and make a presentation at a...

USDA's Report Poltergeist First, it should be emphasized that USDA is as frustrated as the trade over the increased variance since 2007 in the trade's pre-...

Russian Grain Market: 1-7 August 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 5 August, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 14.1 million hectares. The volume of...

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General Comments Overnight trading in corn and soybeans saw prices move higher while wheat traded on both sides without much direction. The day session fou...

Argentine 2014 Crop Low Production Margins Argentine farmers have seen their historically best economical situation in the past 10 years despite the 35 per...

EPA announced the 2013 Required Volume Obligations (RVO) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) today. The RVOs set the minimum amount of biofuels that mu...

General Comments Grain and soy futures edged lower overnight mostly in response to the slightly improved weekly crop condition report for corn and soybeans...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The Bangladesh government intends to import another 850,000 MT of wheat this fiscal year and expects...

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As of last Sunday, 4 August, USDA's weekly crop condition report rated 64 percent of the U.S. corn crop as being good/excellent. This was up 1 percent from...

The farm bill isn't the only thing facing a 30 September deadline; so is the whole government. Congress has 12 appropriations bills to pass to fund the gov...

China's Alfalfa Imports Continue to Grow China's January-June 2013 alfalfa imports reached 319,500 MT, a nearly 63 percent increase year on year, according...

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Milling Wheat Black Sea harvest pressure seems to have stopped for the moment with prices a bit firmer. Russia's crop may be slightly smaller than the 50-5...

General Comments According to some accounts, over 40 percent of the U.S. crop-growing regions received moisture over this past weekend. The problem was tha...

We are still quite a way from harvesting the 2013 U.S. corn and soybean crops, but if the early private crop production estimates are anyplace close to the...

General Comments A private crop production forecast released after the close yesterday pegged the U.S. corn crop at 13.993 billion bushels and the U.S. soy...

Wasteful Figures The UK is challenging a European Commission goal of halving food waste by 2020, which is claimed to be 89 million tons annually. Part of t...

Bountiful Monsoon Brings Bumper Paddy Crop Expectation The 2013/14 crop area under paddy is estimated at 19.638 million hectares against last year's 18.424...

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Yesterday afternoon a private analytical group released their estimate of U.S. corn and soybean production. The corn number was slightly above the USDA Jul...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) is working on a new version of the nutrition part of the farm bill to be sent to conference with the Senate...

General Comments Yesterday's tepid attempt at price recovery quickly got buried by persistent selling by funds. Some of the selling was in response to tech...

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Last week we made note of two events of importance to American agriculture that took place 50 years ago in 1963.  One was the referendum in which U.S...

Summer Beef Production Spiking; 2014 to See Record Beef Prices U.S. beef production will reach a 21-year low according to the U.S. Department of Agricultur...

Malaysians Upset with France over Palm Oil Treatment Malaysia's government and palm oil industry are quite upset with efforts by some in the French governm...

Still No Silver Bullet Banning 16-ounce soft drinks, vending machines and fried foods in schools as well as the mandatory posting of unhealthful and dense...

  EU COOL Pre-Study Results The European Commission has ordered a study to evaluate the impacts of a proposed intra-EU origin labeling requirement on...

South American Corn Empty For Spot Shipments Argentine origin is running out of export licenses so most of the local players are out of the market. Due to...

General Comments The overnight session for grains and the soy complex traded quietly but in fair volume on both sides of unchanged. It seemed as though the...

Russian Grain Market: 25-30 July 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 30 July, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 12.6 million hectares. The volume of t...

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  NEWS UPDATES MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Iraq is considering the possibility of importing French wheat in the regular wheat tenders. It norma...

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has recently reported on an interesting trend in agriculture lending: the market share of agricultural loans shifte...

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Soybean Crop Condition Down Slightly, Still Good Yesterday's USDA crop progress and condition report indicated there was a 1 percent drop in the combined g...

A few years of relatively high corn prices have encouraged farmers around the world to increase corn production and for a change it appears that reasonably...

General Comments Markets seemed to pause overnight and even tried a modest rally in an effort to assess what may be in store for grains and the complex as...

EPA Beats USDA Newly installed EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said today, "We need to cut carbon pollution to grow jobs." In essence, the administration's...

More Damaged Wheat to Be Downgraded China's wheat crop damage is more severe than previously estimated because of the frost and rain during the growing per...

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The House Energy and Commerce Committee has been moving steadily ahead this year toward considering reform of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). A series o...

General Comments It was really just more of the same today. Corn and soybean markets were again weak on softness in old crop basis and weather forecasts th...

Many farmers from other parts of the world have spent time visiting U.S. farms over the years. Rarely does this happen without these visitors staring in aw...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained under pressure last week, as the Russian and Ukrainian harvests are progressing under favorable weather conditi...

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

USDA today announced two actions to intervene in the sugar market and avoid loan forfeitures: one was a second purchase of raw cane sugar to be offered for...

Reciprocity with Japan Cars and wheat should be treated equally. Toru Hisazome, a deputy director in Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisherie...

It was just last Monday that the August/November soybean futures spread set its high for the year at $2.32. Basis levels for both soybeans and soymeal were...

General Comments The markets took a much deserved vacation today with prices trading both sides of unchanged in moderate volume. It is reported that tradit...

Sizable Old-Crop Soybean and Soymeal Export Sales This week's USDA export sales report showed sizable sales of soybeans and soymeal for shipment in 2012/13...

Fourth Agricultural Production Estimates: Higher Production and Higher Prices India has produced more food grains than the target as well as more wheat, co...

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...

General CommentsThe corn and soy markets continued to sink into a bath of red ink, with enough of it splattering out on wheat to pull those markets down as...

Meat and Livestock View of RFS The Energy and Power subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held the first of what will be many hearings on...

Don't Cry for Geneva Pascal Lamy gave his farewell speech as he departs after nearly eight years of service as the WTO's director general. His departure me...

Grain and soy prices, be they futures prices, cash basis levels or a combination of both, are tied closely to crop prospects as viewed by those who trade f...

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General Comments Rumors continue to swirl concerning a possible decision by Chinese authorities to sell up to 3 MMT of soybeans from the government's reser...

RUSSIAN GRAIN MARKET: 17-23 July 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 22 July, grain crops were harvested on 10.3 million hectares. The volume of the grain produc...

Soybean Pricing Dynamics Despite the common belief that Chinese soybean needs are primarily covered for August and September, there is still interest being...

SNAP – Heal Thyself U.S. aggies may rue the day that they acceded to House leaders the segregation of farm supports (500,000 beneficiary farms; 120,000 lar...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The trade is full of stories again this week concerning the wheat for electricity deal between Pakis...

Argentine Farmers Holding Back Soybean Sales Argentina's farmers have been very reluctant to sell their crop because of high export taxes and a very low of...

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WTO Risk of Farm Bill Both the Senate- and House-passed farm bills end direct payments, which are considered green box neutral under WTO rules, and instead...

General Comments Weather markets are notoriously fickle. Old crop/new crop inverses are treacherous especially as the actual time spread before the availab...

The outlook for U.S. wheat has been plagued by negatives of one sort or another for several years. One of the negatives has been falling and/or stagnant pr...

The Energy and Power subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held the first of two marathon hearings on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) t...

The second quarter (April-May-June) initial Gross Domestic Product report will be out 31 July. The US economy grew at 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter of...

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Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained unchanged from last week, with demand increasing at the current price level. Farmers are currently reluctant to...

Downturn in China's Feed Sales China's feed sales were lower in the first half of July compared to the same period in June. Hog feed consumption is down by...

General Comments The widespread rains that were supposed to cover the western Corn Belt missed. That should have meant much stronger openings Sunday evenin...

Virtually every weather forecaster and computer model run were putting big rains across all of the western Corn Belt last Friday. The problem was that over...

Congressional Hearing Winners and Losers A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee is the scene this week for what is being called a slugfest amongst all th...

General Comments Weather is what it is all about for the next several weeks and today's forecasts remained consistent with rain expected across much of the...

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

There isn't much fresh to talk about these days other than weather and potential U.S. corn and soybean yields. That is certainly a lot and, of course, extr...

Credit Exposure Squeezed to Help Rupee There is widespread concern about the fate that awaits the Indian rupee as it hurtles in free fall. The Reserve...

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Oklahoma) sent a memo entitled "Next Steps on 2013 Farm Bill" to the members of the committee on Tuesda...

The December corn contract traded below $5.00 per bushel several times this week, but each day it was able to close with its nose just above the $5.00 surf...

Sour Grapes Outgoing WTO Director General Pascal Lamy has many good qualities but he showed his sour side this week. He complained about the big bilateral...

Pork Expansion in Fourth Quarter According to the most recent USDA Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report, March-May farrowings totaled 2.921 million litters, more...

Later this year, on 22 November to be precise, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy will be remembered. On that date in 1...

General Comments The elimination of price premiums, added to the value of corn and soybean futures over the last two weeks as protection against the risk o...

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...

When Will New Soybean Yield Plateau Be Achieved? As someone who has been involved in the soybean sector for more than 30 years I have long been interested...

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

Paraguay is Becoming a Big Commodity Player Paraguay is incorporating better technology in their farm practices and the results are evident as the producti...

Bears and Policy Although the discussion at a Kansas City Fed conference was framed as the shifting nexus in agriculture, it boiled down to how bearish sho...

RUSSIAN GRAIN MARKET: 10-16 July 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 15 July, grain crops were harvested on 7.8 million hectares. The volume of the grain produce...

General Comments The ongoing dispute between the EU and GFS weather models was tempered overnight when the latest EU model run shifted from its previous ho...

General Comments The decline in corn and soybean weekly crop ratings gave a firm tone to overnight grain and soy trading activity aided by the early EU wea...

Large June NOPA Soy Crush Reaffirms Need for Price Rationing NOPA's crush report of yesterday indicated members crushed 119.05 million bushels of soybeans...

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...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Massive overuse of antibiotics in the poultry industry in Africa and the Middle East is the major cause for...

It is mid-July which is usually the beginning of the "dog days of summer" in the U.S. The July WASDE has come and gone with the expected lack of major surp...

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has scored the House farm bill as saving just more than $11 billion over 10 years.  That is about $7 billion les...

A plethora of hot topics are on tap at a hearing tomorrow before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee on re-authorization of the Commodity Futures Trading...

The crops are planted and doing quite well by most accounts.They are simply very late. There is no dome of doom in the immediate forecasts. Significant por...

General Comments Markets started the Sunday evening session slightly lower. That was expected following Friday's massive sell-off in soybeans and corn. The...

Since the House passed its farm-program-only version of the farm bill: Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) has stated that the Hous...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained unchanged from last week. The mood is still bearish and the buyers/consumers of the main Mediterranean importin...

Strong Precipitation Could Affect Corn Crops Crop growth in northern China's corn belt could be negatively impacted by the recent continuous rain. Most of...

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...

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

Alternative Energy Roughhouse It was a smash-up week for alternative energy with more contradictory studies flying, legislative paring and mealy mouthed be...

Wrong Moves Could Lead to Market Discrepancies Why would the Indian Ministry of Agriculture and Food want to hike import duties on pulses from a rate of ze...

General Comments Markets were mixed overnight, but corn and soybeans turned decidedly bearish when they re-opened at 8:30 this morning. Evidently, the trad...

The House passed the farm-only bill yesterday as Gary Blumenthal reported. It needed 218 votes to pass, but the Speaker's chair gaveled the vote closed to...

USDA reports always keep you up at night and yesterday's numbers were no different. Here are a few items worth noting: U.S. hard red winter wheat (H...

USDA released their July WASDE and Production reports at noon today and they offered no decisive advantage to either long or short traders. Slight adjustme...

U.S. Industry Joins Canadians in COOL Lawsuit A group of eight industry groups from the U.S. and Canada have filed a lawsuit in Washington D.C. The groups...

U.S. corn ending stocks for the current 2012/13 season (ending 31 August) were 729 million bushels. This figure was a reduction below USDA's June estimate...

Boehner Salvages Farm Bill Critics excoriated it, Democrats voted against it and President Obama made a grandstanding veto threat against it, but U.S House...

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...

Net Reductions in U.S. Soybean and Soyoil Export Sales Today's USDA export sales report indicated a net reduction in U.S. export sales of soybeans and soyo...

Russian Grain Market: 3 July – 9 July 2013 Harvesting Updates According to the Russian Federation's Ministry of Agriculture, as of 3 July grain crops were...

Figuring U.S. Foreign Policy Bangladesh has a predominantly Muslim population of nearly 200 million people living on around $2,000 per capita of income per...

General Comments It is the day before USDA's July WASDE, but it is the weather that continues to grip the market's attention. The high pressure ridge setti...

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...

Renting Lands Becomes A Difficult Business Tight margins, higher costs, increasing tax pressure and bad results in the past two campaigns makes this busine...

Traders in commodity futures markets are always nervous, it goes with the territory. They are always fearful that something unforeseen will happen to harm...

Former baseball great Yogi Berra, oft quoted for his malapropisms, once said, "if you come to a fork in the road, take it." That appears to be what the Hou...

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

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS This week there were quite a few comments in the press and from various organizations on the grain situ...

Brazil Slightly Increases 2013 Soybean Crop Estimate The Brazilian commodity supply agency (Conab) today raised its forecast for the 2013 crop of soybeans...

General Comments Short covering, fund buying and old crop/new crop spread action were the dominant features of grain and soy markets today. Overnight tradi...

In a normal summer, the 4 July holiday in the U.S. can be a significant time for the markets. It is especially true for corn, because in a normal summer a...

General Comments Markets came back from the long weekend in a slightly better mood following Friday's sharply lower trade with a holiday-shortened thin tra...

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

As we reported on 25 June, ethanol in Brazil is now cheaper than gasoline and that is creating a demand for ethanol. The latest data shows that the price o...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market is under pressure because of the ongoing harvest and slow demand. The crop in Russia has been revised slightly dow...

China Revising Supportive Procurement Policy for Grains China is revising its 10-year-old supportive procurement policy for grains. The new policy is expec...

Yesterday, the Independence Day holiday, was a key milestone of the summer driving season. Driving mileage typically increases in the summer season from Me...

General Comments Markets were closed for the holiday yesterday and opened at 8:30 this morning. Early calls were for lower openings, but the markets opened...

We've been following weather and crop planting in North Dakota for the past month because it has been so wet, especially across the northern third of the s...

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

Indian Rupee Had Worst Regional Performance The Indian rupee (INR) had the worst performance in the region over the past 90 days with a depreciation rate o...

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

Spying Versus Observing President Obama rebuffed charges of U.S. spying on European missions for leverage in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partner...

Russian Grain Market: 26 June – 2 July 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 1 July, grain crops were harvested on 2.3 million hectares. The volume of the grain pr...

General Comments There has been market discussion that China is making some selective wheat purchases to shore up stocks. USDA currently estimates that Chi...

Parana River Vessel Groundings Last week was quite problematic for vessels on the Parana River. Two vessels collided on the river, followed by the groundin...

Historically, a poultry producer could potentially risk a 20 percent increase in feed prices when corn was trading at $2.40/bushel, but a similar proportio...

Threats and Other Silliness No threats, just opportunities. There are alternative ways to think about many things, including those perceived as threats. Th...

Argentina Selling Soymeal Corn Blend in Vietnam According to a contact, Argentine exporters are offering a product in Vietnam that is called a balanced soy...

Horsemeat and Raw Milk USDA is allowing liberty in the marketplace by approving a New Mexico plant to move forward with the legal slaughter of horsemeat fo...

There has been a lot of commentary about the Fed hinting at phasing down quantitative easing (QE) since last week, when the Fed acknowledged it may be cons...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN and MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The Syrian government grain purchasing department (Hoboob) has reported that it purchased 550,000 MT of...

General Comments Technical traders who observed the gap lower in December corn on Monday attempted to drive the contract down even more, but punching a hol...

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

We reported on Friday that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) is actively pursuing a plan to separate farm programs and nutrition programs into...

General Comments Peculiar dynamics in commodity markets can sometimes stand out as red flags. The sole rally in the July corn contract last Friday was note...

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...

CAP/Farm Bill; Similarities and Differences Tracking the similarities and differences between U.S. and European farm policy is a herky-jerky affair. The tr...

Agricultural Product Logistics Continuing Growth Despite Logistic Sector Slowdown The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) recently reported...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market is under pressure as the harvest is progressing and demand remains slow. Russian/Ukrainian wheat is the most compe...

General Comments USDA's Acreage report was considered bearish, but the quarterly Grain Stocks report was considered bullish for corn and soybeans. The resu...

Today was the big day for USDA Acreage and Grain Stocks reports, and "big" was the operative word for acreage. Corn, soybeans and wheat were all up, with c...

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

This year's farm bill became a showdown over nutrition spending and policy. Predictably, when the cost of the near-trillion-dollar farm bill was reported i...

Increased MSP to Boost Planting and Inflation Increased monsoon activity ensured that farmers planted their crops in time. The government had raised the mi...

Pig Disease Spreading in the U.S. Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has been spreading across the U.S. since earlier this month, according to health a...

General Comments Tomorrow's USDA acreage and stocks reports command attention as they should. However, no matter what the reports say, it will not take mar...

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...

Long-time clients know that every so often we dust off that old and cliched law of market economics that declares, "the best cure for high prices is high p...

Small Old Crop Soy Export Sales Last Week As expected, today's USDA Export Sales report revealed U.S. exporters only made small net export sales of soybean...

TTIP Needs Coherence EU negotiators say that future Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations will be less burdened by the demands...

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

Soybeans OLD CROP Brazilian old crop soybeans are almost complete. Two cargoes traded last week at +180 SQ CNF China. Demand is still good for August soybe...

Approps as Farm Bill Mini The Obama Administration has threatened a veto of the FY 2014 appropriations bill moving through the Republican-controlled House...

Russian Grain Market: 17-25 June 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 24 June, grain crops were harvested on 510,600 hectares. The volume of the grain produced wa...

General Comments Trading overnight provided mixed results with soybeans giving back Tuesday's gains while corn and wheat moved modestly higher -- just the...

General Comments Stats Canada's updated estimates on planted area as of 10 June were released today. They are as follows stated in millions of acres:Stats...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS There are only a few weeks to go until Ramadan in all Muslim countries, from about 9 July – 7 Aug...

As surely everyone in the world must know by now, USDA will release a number of important reports on Friday, 28 June. These include USDA's survey-based est...

Cost of Being Late Japan has just found out that when it joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations next month in Malaysia, nearly half the chapter a...

Ethanol in the U.S. has hit the blend wall of 10 percent. The corn ethanol category alone, which is capped at 13.8 billion gallons, exceeds the 2013 10 per...

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

Canadian Farmers to Plant Less Canola, More Soybeans and Flax Statistics Canada today released its survey of the planting intentions of Canada's farmers. T...

The Supreme Court will not hear a case against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to approve E15 fuel. At issue were EPA's testing m...

Permanent Law Threat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is providing House Republican leaders with the message they need on the farm bill. He sai...

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

We have been arguing for a few months that world wheat production estimates for a 700-plus MMT world wheat crop are too large. USDA did trim its production...

Milling Wheat The wheat market in the Black Sea was rather quiet last week. Market sentiment remains bearish, as weather development has been favorable for...

General Comments The collapse in the equity markets around the world continued today as questions about liquidity continued to plague the markets. The U.S...

China's New Wheat Price Rises for Active Acquisition China's Ministry of Agriculture's latest release indicates approximately 17.47 million hectares of whe...

Mon 06/24/2013 3:00 PM Poultry Slaughter NASS4:00 PM Crop Progress NASS Tue 06/25/2013 9:00 AM Food Price Outlook ERS4:00 PM Weekly Weather and Crop Bullet...

General Comments Agricultural markets were wary of what transpired in the world's financial markets the past two days and traded very tentatively.  Tr...

Mandated Choice Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dineen, faced with a growing lobby against the ethanol mandate, asserted that one of the positive...

Mon 06/24/2013 3:00 PM Poultry Slaughter NASS4:00 PM Crop Progress NASS Tue 06/25/2013 9:00 AM Food Price Outlook ERS4:00 PM Weekly Weather and Crop Bullet...

Yesterday we wrote that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) called the management of the farm bill "major amateur hour." We also predicted th...

GEAC Issues New Permits to Allow GM Trials India's Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) finally has permitted a few companies and research instit...

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

The overall mood of the markets has been so bearish over the past several months that it was somewhat refreshing to see at least one day, Wednesday, when s...

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...

General Comments Grain and soy futures markets faced a triple whammy today. One part came from the fickle weather models. When the models portrayed an outl...

Indian Vegoil Imports Continue to Rise India's imports of vegoils have continued to grow thus far in the 2012/13 marketing year, with palm oil accounting f...

Exports have traditionally played an important role in the supply and demand outlook each year for the three most important (as measured by planted area) U...

Today's unusual defeat in the U.S. House of a major farm bill proposal reflects many new dynamics, not the least of which is the urbanization of America.&n...

The House of Representatives today voted down the farm bill by a vote of 195-234. This is the first time in recent memory that a farm bill has failed. As c...

Biotech in the Face Activists are working hard to pass bills at the state level requiring the labeling of biotech foods but the federal government today ce...

Tomorrow is the USDA monthly Cattle on Feed report. The industry pre-report estimate is that placements in May will total 95.9 percent of May 2012 because...

Russian Grain Markets: 12-18 June 2013 Planting Updates As of 13 June, spring grain and leguminous crops were planted on 30.4 million hectares. This is 100...

General Comments Trading volume overnight was better than average as grain and soy prices sampled both sides of yesterday's closes. After today, only six f...

Climate Smokescreen: Germans are said to treasure their privacy, and they are none too pleased with the recent revelation that the U.S. has been spying on...

This morning the House brought up the rule governing debate on amendments to the farm bill. It was immediately met with a point of order, which was raised...

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

Corn ARGENTINE EXPORTERS CANCEL FAS CORN CONTRACTS Argentine exporters recently cancelled some FAS corn purchases because of delays delivering the product...

Europeans Buy Indian Soymeal European importers have in the last few days purchased about 80,000 MT of Indian soymeal for importation in June and July. The...

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...

Farm Bill Atmosphere The setup is not pretty. A divided U.S. House of Representatives, split between two parties and further fractured within the Republica...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Turkey looks to be having a very good year for grain crops, as wheat, barley and corn production are al...

The House Rules Committee is meeting today to report out a rule on which amendments to the Farm Bill will be ruled in order during the floor consideration,...

General Comments Overnight price action for grains and soybeans was mostly higher in light-to-moderate volume in response to even higher old crop cash basi...

Never has the renewability of agricultural crop resources been better demonstrated than by the current prospects for U.S. corn and soybean production for 2...

China Conducts Soil Pollution Survey On 13 June, China's Ministry of Land and Resources announced that the government plans to conduct a nationwide survey...

Milling Wheat The sentiment in the trade is more and more bearish, as the harvest is already starting in the Southern parts of the EU, Ukraine and Russia,...

USDA will publish in tomorrow's Federal Register two proposed actions to reduce the chance of sugar forfeitures. As USDA has noted, the May 2013 USDA WASDE...

Development ConundrumThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a report warning of the adverse impacts on the environment from economic develop...

General Comments There was not a lot of fresh news overnight and today for the grain and oilseed markets to trade. That was the case last Friday as well an...

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...

There have been many questions about the potential number of acres in North Dakota that will not get planted and, instead, go to Prevented Plant (PP) under...

General Comments It was a slow trading session with very little news to push prices either way. Argentina's farmers will start a five-day strike tomorrow...

India to Retain Top Slot for Meat Exports According to the Agricultural and Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA), the value of Indian meat...

The House of Representatives is preparing for the farm bill to come to the floor for debate next Wednesday. The House Rules Committee is meeting on Monday,...

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

Now that USDA has released its June WASDE numbers and U.S. winter wheat production estimates, the markets will have suffer to find bullish news until the 2...

Label Police: The British "consumer watchdog" group Which? has produced plenty of silly and, at least from a pure economics standpoint, illogical critiques...

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

General Comments Helped along by yesterday's bearish WASDE, trader sentiment has rapidly shifted from concern about late planting to the assumption that "r...

WASDE, Mid-Year Change in Trends USDA's June WASDE contained some trends that deviate from beginning-of-the-year expectations. Total meat production in 201...

Earlier this week we declared 10 June to be National Swaps Day. Banking institutions that are not otherwise considered swaps dealers or major swaps partici...

TTIP Long-View: The likely lengthy negotiation period for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact (TTIP) is now looking even longer. Already the effort w...

No Major Changes to USDA Soybeans Supply and Demand Forecast USDA made only a few changes to its supply and demand forecasts for soybeans yesterday, and al...

Upcoming Campaign Situation Farming in Argentina currently is not having an easy time of it, as the increased production costs have complicated farmers' pr...

General Comments THE JUNE WASDE As expected, USDA's June WASDE contains no major surprises, but its overall tone is bearish. There were a few minor surpris...

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

Pivotal TTIP/TPP Moment: The EU Council will vote Friday on the negotiation mandate to be used in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact (TTIP) with t...

Russian Grain Markets: 5 June - 11 June 2013 Planting Updates As of 6 June, spring grain crops were planted on 30.2 million hectares. This is 99.8 percent...

Whenever problems become large enough or important enough to attract national attention -- or at least the attention of the national press -- politicians a...

China Approves Three Biotech Soybean Events Argentina's Agriculture Minister Norberto Yauhar said China has approved three additional biotech soybean event...

Without doubt, import safeguards, as practiced by many countries, are a frustration for the world's food exporters. Some of that frustration compelled USTR...

The Senate passed the farm bill last night by a vote of 66-27. Seven Senators did not vote. Only two Democrats, Senators Jake Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse (...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS A recent study on Saudi Arabia has determined that the country will have to remain dependent on other c...

General Comments Grain and soy markets were lightly traded overnight, and they lacked much in the way of price direction. Traders are very much aware of to...

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

General Comments We've been in a weather market, and the problem has been too much rain and delayed planting across the United States. It was wet across th...

Swimming Around for Profits All proteins are in demand, but aquaculture holds a unique and very bright future in global markets. Growth Areas for Global Oi...

Comical Trade Input: Many mainstream agricultural groups have submitted comments to U.S. trade negotiators on their desired objectives in the transatlantic...

It is June, halfway through CY 2013, and thus far no required volume obligations (RVOs) have been set for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The U.S. Envir...

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...

USDA will release its June supply and demand estimates (WASDE) this Wednesday at 11 a.m. CDT. Those who might be looking for big changes in acreage or yiel...

Milling Wheat The weather in Eastern Europe is favorable for the development of winter wheat. After the recent rains in Ukraine and southern Russia, the ma...

Contaminated Rice May Result in More Imports Rice in Hunan, China's largest rice-producing province, was found to contain excessive amounts of cadmium. New...

New crop markets have had an overwhelmingly bearish attitude. This started back in February with the USDA's Outlook Conference projections for big planted...

Land Options: While the U.S. harvests cereals from about 35 percent of its arable land and Brazil crops grain and oilseeds on around 26 percent of its arab...

The House Appropriations subcommittee marked up the FY 2014 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies appropriatio...

Poultry Industry May Not Grow as Expected India's poultry industry showed steady growth over the last few years. Hatcheries placed 15 million broilers per...

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

General Comments Weather during weekends in June typically is involved in futures price direction. This upcoming weekend is an example, as Midwestern farme...

Argentine Farmers Considering Sales Stoppage as Protest Argentina's farm groups are considering implementing a strike in the next couple of months during w...

The Senate today invoked cloture on the farm bill, meaning that debate is now limited to 30 hours. That limit should pare the number of amendments offered...

Unsteadying U.S.-Mexico Meat Trade Mexico is a major supplier of feeder cattle to the United States. This is an important role given the fact that the U.S...

There is an old cliché to the effect that "rain makes grain." The truth of this cannot be disputed. Adequate and timely rainfall is essential to the develo...

Patri Oikonomia: London's Daily Telegraph reports that Pope Francis criticized consumerism and said that, "Throwing away food is like stealing from the tab...

General Comments Perhaps the biggest story coming from today's markets has to do with the rapid decline of the U.S. dollar against every other major curren...

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...

Some are likely calling Ernest Barnes, a wheat farmer in Kansas, an opportunistic ambulance chaser. He is suing Monsanto because last week's discovery of b...

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...

General Comments The pessimism about further planting delays for corn, soybeans and spring wheat generated by last weekend's heavy rains and the lingering...

Soybeans Soybean basis levels continued to drop, and there seems to be no end in sight. After trading mid-June at +30 SN for July shipment, basis collapsed...

Russian Grain Markets: 28 May – 4 June 2013 Planting Updates As of 3 June, spring grain crops were planted on 27.4 million hectares, which is 90.6 percent...

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...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Turkish crop production estimates for 2013 show the following: 7.9 MMT of barley, 5.0 of MMT corn and 2...

Argentina Lowers Soymeal Protein Guarantee Argentina's oilseed processing association (CIARA) recently notified all of the country's buyers of soymeal that...

Playing Fair in Wheat and Cars: Japanese officials say they are blocking U.S. white wheat as a "precautionary" measure because they don't have a way to ins...

The Senate resumed consideration of the farm bill yesterday and adopted two amendments.The 2012 Senate farm bill pitted northern crops against southern cro...

Last Friday we took a look at the delayed planting progress and zeroed in on North Dakota. Yesterday Bob Kohlmeyer wrote about weather and planting from a...

General Comments There was light selling across the agricultural markets overnight and throughout today's trading session. Only July corn futures and July...

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...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) circulated a memo on Friday outlining the upcoming schedule for the House in June. Upon returning tomorrow,...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market was actively trading last week. The weather in Ukraine and southern Russia has been favorable during the last two...

General Comments A pretty good way to describe today's grain and soy futures market is simply to point out that corn futures prices traded in a 21- to 25-c...

China Aims to Rebrand Domestic Dairy Industry According to the China Dairy Association, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) expects t...

Mother Nature certainly can give good weather, but she can also take it away. She has done some of both recently. She ignored Mike Krueger's plea in this r...

Weak Rupee: Good for Exports , Bad for Imports The Indian rupee this week declined to a 10-month low. It was the weakest Asian currency against the U.S. do...

General Comments The soy complex was firm overnight, and that "firmness" turned to outright strength as the day wore on. It was a puzzling market for those...

Today is 31 May. This is an important crop insurance date because it is the "drop-dead" date for crop insurance planting in many states, especially in the...

The Senate will reconvene on Monday, 3 June and resume the farm bill debate. It will vote on the Moran amendment and the Coons-Johanns amendment.Alfalfa: W...

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

Russian Export Updates As of 22 May, Russia exported 14.9 MMT of grain since the beginning of MY 2012/13. Grain exports made during 1-22 May amounted to 32...

Corn Argentina exported 2.9 MMT of corn in April and 2.5 MMT in March. Approximately 3 MMT will be exported in May, and we can expect about 3 MMT of corn e...

In yesterday's market commentary we noted (as did Gary Blumenthal in his policy comments) that the owners of the largest Chinese meat packing company, Shua...

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...

Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the world, has been bought by China's largest meat producer, Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. Shuanghui...

South America Soy Headed to the U.S. Last week there were reports from Brazil that eight to 10 cargoes of soybeans and/or soymeal had been booked to ship t...

General Comments In overnight trading, grain and soy futures prices moved back and forth on both sides of the previous closes. Volume was fairly good even...

Rushing to Judgment: The discovery of some glyphosate-resistant wheat in an Oregon farm field prompted the EU to request the detection protocol from Monsan...

General Comments The question of whether the recent rain makes grain or reduces planted corn acreage is being debated, but determining the answer to the qu...

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...

Xenophobic Hogwash: Shuanghui International's purchase of U.S. meatpacking giant Smithfield has brought out all the xenophobic anti-business lunatics. Ther...

Russian Grain Markets: 20-28 May 2013 Planting Updates As of May 27, spring grain crops were planted on 23.1 million hectares, including 8.5 million hectar...

When Congress reconvenes on 3 June, the Senate farm bill debate is likely to turn to ethanol and biofuel issues related to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS...

EU Formally Imposes AD Duties on Biodiesel As expected, the EU today formally imposed anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia...

General Comments Surprisingly heavy rain fell across parts of Iowa, Illinois and the northern Corn Belt over the long weekend as a frontal system stalled o...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS A Lebanese company announced that it will invest up to $800 million in agricultural projects in Sudan t...

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

Next autumn, when we look back at the 2013/14 U.S. corn and soybean crops and the cash and futures markets, we just might conclude that the last full week...

The Senate met today in pro forma session and will not reconvene until Monday, 3 June after the Memorial Day recess. When the Senate does come back on 3 Ju...

General Comments Markets will be closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.Markets were relatively quiet in the overnight session on limited volume ahe...

Crop Insurance Challenge: Any angst over a U.S. Senate vote to reduce crop insurance benefits to the top 1 percent richest farmers seems overdone. Amendmen...

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

Indian Grain Exports Wheat prices have rallied at market yards, exceeding $286/MT on the exchange and reaching $282/MT for the spot price in Delhi. The gov...

Monday is the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. and all markets will be closed. The Memorial Day weekend signals the start of summer, which means we are als...

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...

COOL: New Rule to Be Challenged The U.S. today issued a final rule modifying its country of origin labeling (COOL) statute to satisfy the WTO's ruling on t...

Historically, the U.S. has been the world's dominant producer of grains and oilseeds. As such, the U.S. was also by far the world's leading supplier of gra...

Argentina's Selective IPR Protection The government of Argentina plans to submit legislation to Congress later this year that would require large farmers t...

UnCOOL Enough to be Changed: The final country of origin labeling (COOL) rule remains offensive to everyone, including groups supportive of the concept. Me...

General Comments Soy and wheat prices moved higher in overnight trade while corn prices edged lower. It appeared to be short covering in wheat and soybeans...

Today was day four of voting on the Senate farm bill. The following is a recap of today's action.At the time of this report, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon...

CropLife America hosted its annual National Policy Conference, to which it invites the opponents of conventional agriculture to come and debate the issues...

Russian Grain Markets: 13-17 May 2013 Planting Updates As of 15 May, spring crops were planted on 22.4 million hectares (44 percent of the target area). Gr...

General Comments After relatively dull overnight trading that mostly featured more unwinding of old/new crop spreads but little by way of price direction,...

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

The Senate took up the farm bill again this afternoon, but it was also scheduled to vote on a resolution supporting the full implementation of U.S. and int...

Wheat Argentine wheat is very hot in the domestic market. Argentine millers are desperately trying to buy wheat for their needs, but prices for the cereal...

General Comments USDA's report that corn planting had progressed to 71 percent as of 19 May came as a pleasant surprise. That is only 8 percent below avera...

The Senate had no votes on the farm bill Monday night. Because Tuesdays are the day of traditional party caucus meetings and the Senate was in recess for t...

With prospects for the 2013 corn and soybean crops rapidly improving enough to dismiss production concerns -- at least for now, we can safely turn our atte...

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...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Corn plantings will be promoted in Algeria as a way to try to reduce the country's complete dependence...

Brazilian Ship Lineup for Soybeans Declining Data from a Brazilian maritime agency last week shows that the lineup of vessels at Brazilian ports to load so...

Russia With Love: As we noted back on 3 May, U.S. meat exporters and the Obama Administration are set to give Moscow a big wet kiss on the ractopamine issu...

Milling WheatThe weather in Eastern Europe is far from ideal. Parts of Ukraine and Southern Russia have received some beneficial rains since the beginning...

General Comments Old crop corn and soybean futures were strong last night and for the first few hours today before selling showed up and dropped markets fr...

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

Net farm income (profits) has been on an amazing roll for several consecutive years, with 2012 apparently establishing another record all-time high. The ke...

TTIP Red Lines At the same time EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht was warning his fellow Europeans against drawing red lines on trade issues before thei...

Farm Bill on Senate Floor for Debate After passing a farm bill out of Committee last week on Tuesday 14 May, the Senate officially took up the farm bill on...

China's poultry industry loss reached $6.5 billion after bird flu outbreak According to a recent report by the China Animal Agriculture Association, losses...

General Comments It was a quiet, low volume trading session the first half of the day, with wheat and corn generally lower and soybeans swinging back and f...

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

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is continuing its review of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Last week it released a third white paper on greenho...

The delivery period for the May futures contracts is finished, and it provided an interesting look at how the super strong cash markets finally had an impa...

National Food Security: Mission Unaccomplished India's parliamentary budget session ended in confusion, and the government (GOI) was unable to clear some c...

It is springtime, and for those who are involved with or interested in grain and oilseed production, transportation, storage, processing and/or exporting,...

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...

General Comments Weather forecasts gain importance each day. Although corn planting progress across the Midwest has been impressive these last few days, th...

Pseudo Farm Bill Issues: USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack told us NPR listeners that he thought the new farm bill, which he described as a "food, farm and jobs"...

NOPA April Crush Report Shows Expected Big Decline Yesterday's NOPA crush report for April 2013 shows that its members sharply reduced their soybean crush...

The Senate and House Agriculture Committees have passed their respective farm bill drafts. The Senate bill passed by a vote of 15-5 (the same as in 2012) o...

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...

Russian Grain Markets: 6-10 May 2013 Planting Updates As of 6 May, spring crops were planted on 13.8 million hectares (27.2 percent of the planned area), w...

General Comments Grain and soy markets were a bit lower in overnight trade, mainly, it seemed, because there was an absence of news that might encourage hi...

Soybeans The Argentine soybean market has been quite boring as far as trading goes. Most traders have been dedicated to issues with executing shipments. Th...

The House Agriculture Committee began its farm bill markup this morning. Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Oklahoma) and Ranking Minority Member Collin Peterson (D-M...

The Senate Agriculture Committee today passed its version of the 2013 Farm Bill by a 15-5 vote. Voting against the bill were Senators Mitch McConnell (R-Ke...

General Comments The grain and soy futures market was in a consolidating mode after the big price run-up yesterday. Traders were not willing to say that ye...

The May futures contracts expired today without any deliveries of soybeans, corn or soybean meal. And why should there have been deliveries? The value of a...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS There has been some tightening of Turkey's GMO inspection rules in the past couple of weeks. This mainl...

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...

USDA's report released last Friday included its first forecasts for U.S. and global supply and demand for oilseeds and products for the 2013/14 marketing y...

China's Small- to Medium-Sized Ethanol Plants Struggle to Survive China's small- to medium-sized ethanol plants have been struggling to survive because of...

One of the things that stood out in USDA's May WASDE was that total U.S. exports of wheat, corn and soybeans will again be significantly lower than those o...

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...

General Comments Basis levels for corn and soybeans continue to soar higher, and there was still some open interest left in the May contracts that expire t...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market is very quiet. The old crop market is now completely disregarded, and the focus has switched to the weather develo...

The Senate Agriculture Committee will begin its markup of the 2013 Farm Bill tomorrow, and the House Agriculture Committee is likely to follow suit on Wedn...

Indian Wheat Exports: To Be or Not to Be? The trade has lowered its estimate for the Indian wheat crop from 92 MMT or more to 82-85 MMT. The government of...

Biotech Fairy Tale: USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack reportedly told congressional appropriators that legislation intended to prevent disruptions in crop product...

General Comments There was nothing bullish going on in any commodity today. Metals were sharply lower, energy markets were sharply lower, the dollar was sh...

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

Preparing for next week's markups, both the Senate and House Agriculture Committees have released their marks. The Senate bill is the Agriculture Reform, F...

The tables below show today's USDA report numbers compared to last year's. In general, the numbers were bearish, although not quite as bearish as expected...

Big Increase in Ukrainian Oilseed Production Forecasted The Ukrainian consulting firm UkrAgroConsult this week forecasted a big increase in that country's...

Farm Bill Outtakes: The Senate Agriculture Committee has a draft farm bill for next week's markup, and it reflects some expected changes and some controver...

General Comments Overnight trade in grains and soy was mixed in terms of price action and light in terms of volume. However, by the time the day session be...

No Egg Layer Welfare Language in Senate Farm Bill Mark Last week we wrote that a number of commodity groups had been told that Senate Agriculture Committee...

The topic of U.S. food aid programs seldom garners a lot of public attention, but it never goes away either. Like the proverbial bad penny, the topic of fo...

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

Corn The Argentine corn lineup surprises us every day. The volume shipped during the first few months of the campaign was almost a record. March loadings a...

General Comments We cannot claim even the slightest expertise in the sugar market, sugar trading or USDA's price support program for sugar. According to wh...

Due to the May holidays, market activity in Ukraine and Russia has slackened and there has been little price development. Business will resume as usual at...

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

Greedy in Bali: Roberto Carvalho de Azevedo of Brazil is the new WTO Director General. While there is initial hope that he can guide the organization...

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

Both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees are taking the next step in the farm bill process when they markup farm bills next week. But then again, t...

General Comments In another "Turnaround Tuesday" market, grains and the soy complex traded mostly higher overnight in light volume as USDA's crop progress...

USDA reported that planting of the U.S 2013/14 corn crop was only 12 percent complete as of 5 May, which is the second slowest corn planting pace on record...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Wheat exports from Germany to Iran have continued at a good clip in 2013 with about 120,000 MT exported...

Brazilian Soybean Cargo Headed to the U.S. A Brazilian maritime agency last week issued a ship lineup report that indicated a cargo of approximately 27,000...

Numerillogical at the Top There are problems in the agricultural data field, but its quantity and quality do improve over time. Meanwhile, decisions at the...

Farm Bill Markup: The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee will markup its version of a farm bill (similar to the one passed last year) next Tuesday and the f...

General Comments The extended weather forecasts look warmer and drier, which was all the market needed to know to make the assumption that the spring weath...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market was quiet last week partly because of the holidays (1 May and Orthodox Easter) but also because of the very slow d...

While the effort to reform the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is running apace in Congress, a number of interests are weighing in on the actual farm bill's...

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...

A week ago the market couldn't buy enough corn and wheat because the corn crop wasn't going to get planted. Today some analysts were saying the year's pric...

China to Build a Unified Reserve Grain Trading System China plans to build a unified reserve grain trading center under supervision from the China National...

TTIP Coherence on Unsafe Food: Taking full advantage of the horsemeat scandal, the European Commission today proposed the harmonization of the Continent's...

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

Poultry Processing Sector's Expanding Scope India places about 55-60 million birds a week and is possibly the fifth-largest poultry meat producer, but its...

Counter-Offensive Needed: Conventional agriculture and biotechnology will continue to be the soft-bellied target of the activist community until the latter...

General Comments "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill should...

Annual crop quality tours took place across Kansas and Oklahoma this week. In the final analysis, production estimates came in well below the pre-tour expe...

Policymaking Washington is anticipating a farm bill process that will kick off officially very soon. Now is a good time to take stock of what we do and do...

General Comments Grain and soy markets continued their choppy price action overnight and again today. According to the pattern, today was supposed to be an...

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...

Egg Layer Welfare Bill in Senate Farm Bill Mark A number of commodity groups reportedly were told that Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabe...

One of the most durable of political chestnuts, the U.S. Food for Peace program will be celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2014. Food for Peace is the for...

High Indian Soy Prices Driven By a Squeeze Caused by Few Traders On Tuesday I wrote about India's extremely high prices for soybeans, soymeal and soyoil. S...

A cooling Chinese economy and more trouble in the Middle East were the top prognostications in WPI's last online survey. Our latest survey question address...

Bali Heat: In preparations for the WTO Ministerial in Bali in December, the U.S. is emphasizing eliminating export restrictions, liberalizing trade and rem...

Russian Grain Markets: 24-30 April 2013 Planting Updates As of 25 April, spring crops were planted on 6.2 million hectares, up 1.9 million hectares compare...

General Comments Today's price action in grains and the soy complex again followed the recent pattern of changing direction each day. On Monday markets wer...

Soybeans The Paranagua paper market has been depreciating. May traded at +5 SK in March, and it has since dropped to -58 SK. That is an incredible drop in...

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...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS In a further expansion in Middle East agricultural investments, Al Dahra Agriculture, a UAE-based compa...

Half Right = Half Wrong: Economists can probably get science half right. Botanist Ian Crute this week showed that scientists can get economics half right,...

General Comments Grain and soy futures markets continued their up-one-day, down-the-next pattern, with wheat being the exception. Wheat prices hit a o...

As Bob Kohlmeyer is fond of saying, farm bills are often written to cure the last problem agriculture faced. Moreover, farm bills for decades have been tie...

Tight Soybean Supplies Drive High Soymeal and Soyoil Prices in India This time of the year India is normally the near-least or least expensive source of so...

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...

Conventional wisdom among many traders of grain futures is that USDA's unexpectedly huge 1 March quarterly corn stocks estimate killed the long-term bull m...

Temperatures soared across the Northern Plains this past weekend and reached the 70s in many areas. The snow melt was rapid and rivers were rising quickly...

General Comments Today was all about weather. Weekend forecasts were much cooler and wetter across the guts of the Corn Belt than what some models looked l...

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 Milk Price Continues to Rise It is estimated that China's milk price will increase by 5.3 percent in 2013 because domestic demand outpaces producti...

The U.S. suffered from drought last year and the current weather has made it too wet to plant so far this year. Meanwhile, China has been suffering from an...

Response to Biotech Labeling: Legislation introduced by 10 U.S. senators (none from major farm states) would require labeling of foods produced with biotec...

Typically, one reason why a subcabinet official is nominated to be an agency head is because it is an expedited process. The subcabinet official was once v...

Any remaining market bulls certainly must now consider themselves "snakebit" following the CME's decision to declare force majeure and suspend the delivery...

Soybean Meal Prices Drop, But Not Enough for Exports Soybean meal prices on the exchange and physical markets have corrected in the last two weeks (since t...

General Comments It was another trading session last night and today that beared no resemblance to the previous session. That has been the pattern in recen...

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

CSPI Risky Meat Report The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) -- the organization that brought us scares over Chinese food, trans fatty acids...

General Comments The grain and soy markets opened the overnight session in mixed and tentative form, but prices soon moved into the green. Weather model ru...

Disagree with AGree: The group AGree was formed by various charitable organizations to "to drive positive change in the food and agriculture system." The g...