Profits in Perspective: The Financial Times recently implied excessive profiting by a handful of owners of global grain trade firms by highlighting that ne...

Argentina Raises Biodiesel Blend Requirement The government of Argentina announced that effective 1 June, the percentage of biodiesel required to be blende...

General Comments Grain and oilseed markets were steady to firm overnight and gained some strength when the open outcry session started to trade. The weekly...

General Comments After yesterday's price recovery, grain and soy prices opened slightly lower with light profit-taking, but the soy complex was soon bid up...

Russian Grain Markets: 10-16 April 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,935 of grain for exchange trading on 10 April and 64,996...

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...

Regulatory Precaution: Europe and Japan are providing plenty of policy lessons for officials governing other countries. The Washington Post notes how gover...

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...

Gasoline prices always are a key factor in politics each summer, starting from Memorial Day in May, through the busy summer driving and vacation season, to...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Saudi Arabia has been quickly reducing the size of the locally grown wheat crop because of the h...

General Comments Without the drag from the general downdraft from outside financial markets and commodity prices as seen yesterday, it was "Turnaround Tues...

The fear of short traders being squeezed may create a temporary rally in the nearby corn and soybean contracts that is larger than recent fundamental data...

China's Soybean Imports Almost Certain to Decline It is becoming increasingly clear that China's soybean imports in the current marketing year will be lowe...

We spent much of the last two days in a flat boat casting flies in hopes of finding red fish in the shallow grassy waters near the mouth of the Cape Fear R...

Flights of Fancy: USDA put a five-year extension on its "Farm to Fly" program intended to support the production of 1 billion gallons of aviation fuel by 2...

New Approach Needed: The European Parliament votes tomorrow on a plan to raise the cost of carbon under the carbon emissions trading scheme by delaying the...

The major sell-off in metals and energy markets that started last Friday continued in full force today. Gold futures were down as much as $150 an ounce at...

The price of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) continues to generate a lot of attention these days. We first reported on the big bull rally in RIN pr...

China Boosts Pork Reserves to Stabilize Price China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top planning body, announced on 8 Ap...

General Comments Grain and oilseed markets ignored the collapse in metals and energy prices last Friday, but they didn't ignore it today. Gold got crushed...

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...

Milling Wheat Once again, the Black Sea wheat market was quiet last week. Bulgarian/Romanian wheat remained the cheapest origin for Mediterranean destinati...

Soymeal Price Correction Important Soybean prices in India have reached a new high of $750/MT in the country's production center, Indore. As a result, loca...

President Obama's FY 2014 budget proposal calls for far greater cuts in farm spending than either the Senate or House farm bills. Overall it provides for $...

The wait for the northern half of the U.S. and all of Canada to finally warm up looks like it will continue for at least another two weeks and maybe longer...

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

Just Label It: After 11 years of claiming its chicken and eggs were not raised on biotech feed, Britain's largest grocery chain Tesco says it is dropping i...

General Comments Markets were firm overnight led by soybeans and wheat. Wheat eventually led all markets with big gains that were sustained into the close...

Balanced RFS Approach: Ethanol proponents saw no reason to reduce the blending rate when a drought caused corn prices to skyrocket and thus forced the adju...

Russia Meat Trade: Ractopamine or Oil Prices? Russia is extending its ban on North American meat exports. It announced on Monday that about 50 percent of a...

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 Echoes of yesterday's WASDE, fears of freeze damage to new crop HRW, finally a sale of new SRW to China, strong cash bids for soybean and...

Despite the downturn in 2012 that we discussed a few weeks ago, trade in derivative markets is still enormous and diverse enough to be difficult to compreh...

Paraguay Rejects DET The lower house of Paraguay's Congress yesterday voted down a proposal to impose a 10 percent export tax on unprocessed soybeans. The...

Budget Proposal Flaws: Like all budget proposals from various presidents, the Obama Administration's proposed FY 2014 spending request reflects a political...

Russian Grain Markets: 3-9 April 2013 The intervention fund put up 64,870 of grain for exchange trading on 9 April.Since the beginning of the public grain...

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...

Soybeans The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange last Thursday reported that the Argentine soybean crop was 9 percent harvested, with a 4 percent delay compared to...

General Comments Today's WASDE contained a little something for everyone. It was considered somewhat bullish for corn, as (not surprisingly) WAOB analysts...

General Comments Overnight markets were mixed as corn and soybeans tried to hang on while wheat retreated from yesterday's rally. Wheat's relative weakness...

China Lowers Soybean Import Estimate for March, Raises April China's Ministry of Commerce today lowered its estimate for that country's soybean import in M...

On Wednesday USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) will release the April WASDE. Frequently, the April WASDE is anti-climactic after the quarterly...

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) yesterday sent a farm bill proposal to Capitol Hill. Its recommendations for the 2013 Farm Bill were based on "s...

Ad Nauseam at 50,000 Feet Opining on agriculture’s “sacralized” issues -- those treated as or made sacred, such as locavorism, veganism,...

Some members of the U.S. House intend to introduce legislation tomorrow that would reform or change the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Apparently they are...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS At a recent conference in Dubai, speakers called for cooperation between countries in the Middle East i...

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...

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 Ruse of COOL: Comments are due by this Thursday on USDA's proposed revision to the country of origin labeling (COOL) requirement. A recent letter with...

Partial Decontrol of the Sugar Industry The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) finally has decided to partially decontrol the sugar sector. A few...

Milling Wheat The wheat market in the Black Sea was quiet last week. Several vessels are loading in Bulgaria for Libya and Morocco. About 100,000 MT were l...

It's budget week in Washington, and a number of fiscal policy matters will be highlighted. These include a plan to minimize the sequester's impact on farm...

Winter has yet to leave the U.S. Northern Plains. In fact, it hasn't even made a sincere attempt to create a false hope that spring is near. There is signi...

China's Fertilizer Imports on the Rise China's January-February fertilizer import volume has increased by as much as 72 percent year-on-year. Out of all fe...

General Comments Markets were firm to start the week. The new trading hours took effect yesterday. The markets now open at 7 p.m., close between 7:45 a.m...

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

Back on 4 February we ran an analysis of what the potential 2013/14 U.S. wheat situation might look like. The table below is from that report.A fair amount...

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) imports 40 MMT of grain each year, over half of which is wheat. Wheat represents half the calories consumed in coun...

Sugar is a high profile commodity this month. When the April WASDE comes out next week, it will have to factor in some developments in Mexico. The March WA...

Chinese Bird Flu Impacting Soy Market U.S. soybean futures prices fell this week because of concerns that H7N9 will result in a decline in poultry consumpt...

General Comments Nearby corn and soybeans closed out the week a dollar lower than last week's highs as margin calls took precedence for a time and position...

General Comments There was little more news about China's bird flu outbreak overnight, and Chinese markets and many businesses have closed for the long spr...

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...

New Bird Flu in China A strain of bird flu in China not previously known to infect humans now has infected at least 11 people and resulted in at least four...

Some developments that are interesting, or disturbing, or just plain stupid ...Cold War Redux: The U.S. suggested that South Korea join the Trans-Pacific P...

Insider trading has become a topic du jour among traders in financial markets. Recently the financial news has been filled with stories about alleged insid...

It's All About Logistics in Brazil Note: This is a continuation of our section about Brazil's logistical problem in last week's report (see WPI 27 March).W...

General Comments Chinese authorities have reported that a newly identified strain of bird flu has caused a number of deaths and serious illnesses in recent...

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 Larder: The Senate Agriculture Committee plans to markup a 2013 Farm Bill before the end of the month, and committee member Kirsten Gillibrand (D...

Russian Grain Markets: 27 March – 2 April 2013 The intervention fund put up 64,950 MT of grain for exchange trading on 27 March and 64,903 MT of grain on 2...

Last Thursday's USDA Prospective Plantings report indicated U.S. soybean planted area in 2013 will be almost unchanged from last year. I continue to feel t...

Free-market economist Milton Friedman might have believed that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but West Virginia is trying to be the first state in...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Al Dahra Company of Abu Dhabi announced that it is investing $400 million to purchase eight Serbian far...

Born and Killed: USDA's proposed revision of the country of origin labeling (COOL) to bring it into compliance with a WTO ruling is not just excessively bu...

As we looked at USDA's quarterly stocks estimates last Thursday, for some reason we were reminded of a favorite uncle who passed away many years ago. He wo...

General Comments The shockingly high 1 March corn stocks reported by USDA triggered enormous trading volume in corn futures. CME corn futures volume last 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...

General Comments Markets started the week with steep losses in corn. That was expected after the limit-down close last Thursday on the heels of the spectac...

New Year Prospects for India's Economy The new fiscal year in India has begun, which means there are new goals for the country's economy. India's economic...

China Enters Peak Season for Corn Purchases Corn prices and domestic sales volume in northern and northeastern China, the country's major corn production a...

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...

Trust Politicians More than Scientists: David Kessler, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) writes in The New York Times th...

New Chinese Premier Li Keqiang last week stressed the importance of developing modern agriculture and scale farming in China. During his research tour to t...

The old corn market suffered a sudden and inexplicable death last Thursday when USDA pegged 1 March corn stocks to be about 400 million bushels (11 MMT) la...

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 commented yesterday that if USDA's 1 March corn stocks estimate were to present the kind of erratic surprise that has become an established pattern for...

East Asia Trade Bloc: Japan, China and South Korea completed the first round of talks intended to achieve a free trade agreement. No one should expect the...

Congress passed the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in October 2011. The impact of the FTA, which went into effect in May 2012, already is being felt i...

Prospective Plantings Report Indicates Small Drop in Soybean Plantings Today's USDA Prospective Plantings report indicated U.S. farmers intend to plant sli...

Note: Grain and soy futures markets (and WPI) are closed tomorrow, 29 March, for the Good Friday holiday. They will reopen Sunday evening. General Comme...

General Comments The last full trading session before tomorrow's key reports from USDA was understandably a light volume affair. Any trader wishing to posi...

Russian Grain Markets: 20-26 March 2013 The intervention fund put up 64,950 MT of grain for exchange trading on 20 March and 64,953 MT of grain on 26 March...

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...

Green Versus Trade: The National Association of Manufacturers sent a letter to President Obama urging that he successfully negotiate a Transatlantic Trade...

It's All About Logistics in Brazil It is not surprising that Brazil has a logistical problem, nor is it news that the current campaign is probably the wors...

China Buys Australian Rapeseed I wrote last week that China and Australia reached agreement to liberalize Chinese imports of Australian rapeseed. China pre...

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 The main topic for market discussion is Thursday's quarterly stocks and planting intentions reports from USDA, of course. However, a secon...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Is it the end of the world as we know it? Speaking from personal knowledge, the banking crisis in Cypru...

2012 was a tough year for the derivatives industry. The year opened with the industry still trying to deal with the fallout from the collapse of MF Global...

FAO Mediocrity: While the FAO itself makes a few valuable contributions, one of the criteria for becoming its director general is the ability to repeatedly...

General Comments Markets were softer overnight on extremely light volume. Fewer than 1,000 May soybean contracts traded in the first hour or so. Corn gradu...

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...

Over the course of the past few months we have written often about how good things are "down on the farm" in the United States. Net farm income has been se...

Skyrocketing Food Safety: Food and Chemical News reported that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) watered down regulatory requirements f...

Crop Diversification How much water does corn require, and how much do soybeans need? Experts suggest corn requires 500-800 millimeters and that the crop n...

Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) last Friday sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) acting Administra...

Dead Pigs Found in Shanghai River Earlier this month dead pigs were found floating through China's commercial hub, Shanghai. As of 20 March, local authorit...

Milling Wheat The EU allocated 538,000 MT of wheat export licenses, bringing the total to 14.7 MMT (excluding durum and flour) versus 10.3 MMT allocated at...

The biofuel reform process in Congress has begun. The House Energy and Commerce Committee announced that it will publish a series of five white papers on R...

With so many petty and small complaints, things must be not too bad in this world. So here are some small reactions to go along with them.Junk Science: The...

Anyone who has spent any time in the military or in college for sure knows what "guts poker" is, and maybe everyone else does as well. Guts poker is what 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'...

General Comments Grain prices were lower overnight led by double-digit losses in soybeans at one point. Trading volume was very light overnight and didn't...

General Comments Overnight trade in grain and soy futures saw a reversal of recent trends. Wheat and corn incurred some selling by traders seeking to cash...

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...

A week from today, 28 March, USDA will release its quarterly estimate of grain and soybean stocks as of 1 March, along with its report on the initial sprin...

EU Margarine Industry Lowers Trans Fats Maximum The International Margarine Association of the Countries of Europe (IMACE) has tightened its voluntary code...

Cost of Bipartisanship: The continuing resolution signed into law by President Obama ensures there will be no government shutdown next week and is being ha...

Today's USDA Daily Boxed Beef Cutout Value report showed that rare phenomenon of an inverted Choice-Select price spread. Cutout values for Choice beef were...

Russian Grain Markets: 13-19 March 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,917 MT of grain for exchange trading on 13 March and 64,...

Wheat The Argentine government's intervention made a mess of the 2012/13 wheat campaign. Production was lower than expected and the crop's quality was a su...

General Comments Among topics for the market's consideration, weather is constantly at the forefront. Agricultural production in various important regions...

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...

Respondents to our recent online survey regarding expected U.S. economic growth this year were decidedly on the bearish side (see graph below). A sub-par 2...

General Comments Grain and soy futures prices were mixed to mostly firmer overnight with corn the leader, supported by ongoing concerns about supplies acce...

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 has been much said about the recent flight of managed money from grain and soy futures markets in search of greener pastures, and the record setting...

Chinese Farmers Complain About Large Soybean Imports Farmers in China's Heilongjiang province are complaining to the government that they are being hurt by...

Contrasting TTIP Views: Not only are the U.S. and EU far from agreement on a trade pact, but politicians and pundits also are far from agreement on its pro...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS The Egyptian government announced on Sunday that it is cutting the wheat flour subsidy to bakeries and that the flour will be s...

Given the federal government's current fiscal condition, the newly imposed sequestration of federal spending, mounting federal debt and several years of re...

Sinograin to Secure Corn Procurement for Reserves Sinograin has repeatedly improved corn procurement in north and northeast China since last fall. Further,...

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...

It was 19 degrees Fahrenheit in Fargo, North Dakota this morning and we are in the middle of a winter blizzard. All schools and many businesses closed. On...

Last week the first swap transactions were required to be cleared at central clearinghouses to decrease systemic risk in the swap markets under Dodd-Frank...

Whole Foods Fools: Walter Robb, co-CEO of the foodie marketing chain Whole Foods, last week announced that his grocery chain would require the labeling of...

General Comments Markets opened steady to a penny lower yesterday, but gradually weakened as the Cyprus story unfolded and world financial markets started...

Chinese Investment in India Foreign direct investment (FDI) is allowed in India, but not all sectors are open to Chinese investment. Still, Chinese busines...

General Comments It was generally quiet in the markets today. Funds were largely absent and trading volume was light to moderate. Yesterday was the last tr...

Litigation Progresses: The dispute settlement system is called the "crown jewel" of the WTO. Just as royalty must prance around to inspire the people, trad...

Milling Wheat The wheat market in the Black Sea remained quiet this week. Bulgaria has a remaining surplus of about 300,000 MT and is now the only orig...

The Senate Budget Committee unveiled the chairman's mark for its version of the FY 2014 budget earlier this week (See WPI 12 March). The committee adopted...

It feels like we have been writing and talking about the exact same news for a very long time. It is not that this "old news" isn't important. On the contr...

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

Wheat During Argentine President Cristina Kirchner's reign and thanks to government intervention, wheat has been highly profitable for the export sector. O...

For most of the last 10 years it seems as though the U.S. supply and demand balance for either corn or soybeans has been deemed to have been "tight." Of co...

Budget Agreement and Markets: The budget fight in Washington is said to be the difference between using spending cuts or tax hikes to achieve a balance. On...

Burdensome Stocks Unlikely, Even With Large U.S. Crop It is now apparent that South America will harvest its largest soybean crop in history at about 145 M...

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 The overnight session provided more of the same for the soy complex and grains. Soybeans traded lower again while corn and wheat firmed. S...

FSIS Furlough Update During a House Ag Committee hearing yesterday, USDA Undersecretary for Food Safety Elizabeth Hagen yesterday said that furloughs for f...

Russian Grain Markets: 6-12 March 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,960 MT of grain for exchange trading on 6 March and 64,95...

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...

Comprehensive, But: The contradiction of new, "high-level" trade agreements across the Pacific and the Atlantic and political realities are beginning to st...

General Comments Yesterday's poor performance by the soybean market brought on further selling pressure in the complex overnight, while the grains were mos...

The House Budget Committee today released the chairman's mark for the FY 2014 budget resolution. Regarding the farm bill, the budget has little to say; how...

Hazardous Farm Bill Environment: With every government program taking a sequester cut, including White House tours, lost is the broad coalition of the equa...

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...

Tight Cottonseed Supply Situation Forecast for 2013/14 Most analysts are predicting U.S. cotton plantings will fall sharply in 2013 as farmers shift to pla...

General Comments Overnight trade saw generally lower prices led by the soy complex amid moderate volume. It was Turnaround Tuesday but in a mild form. With...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS There is a great deal of concern in Egypt that the current political turmoil will make it difficult for the IMF to follow throu...

With the unremarkable March WASDE behind us, the fundamental focus for grain and soy markets has quickly shifted to the 1 March stocks report that USDA wil...

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...

Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) for conventional ethanol have been on a crazy bullish ride, going from 5 cents in December to 45 cents in February...

FCI Wheat Exports via Traders As of 1 February 2013, wheat stocks in India's central pool totaled 30.809 MMT (including 0.146 MMT in transit), far exceedin...

CAP All-Nighter: The European Parliament Agriculture Committee reportedly is meeting tonight to slog through over 300 proposed amendments to Common Agricul...

Chinese Beef Imports Surge Recent data from China Customs shows that China's beef imports in January reached a record high of 18,489 MT, an increase of 812...

General Comments Markets were higher overnight and into this morning, but the overnight gains were softened early this morning when prices dropped back to...

The following are some problems worth noting as we head into the Northern Hemisphere's planting season. A year ago at this time, all eyes were on the cor...

Everyone Thrown Under the Bus: In a perverse attempt to come into compliance with an adverse WTO ruling against country of origin labeling (COOL) for beef,...

General Comments Futures markets were quietly mixed overnight ahead of this morning's USDA WASDE update. U.S. and Asian financial markets continued to gain...

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 sequester is mostly over. While it has been ordered, it has not yet been implemented; it will be carried out over the remainder of the fiscal year. Con...

Today's monthly supply and demand revisions from USDA were not expected to have too much of an impact on the markets, and sure enough, they did not. Here a...

Milling Wheat The EU allocated 607,000 MT of wheat export licenses this week, bringing the total to 13.8 MMT versus 9.4 MMT allocated at the same time last...

Slowing Soy Export Sales Today's USDA Export Sales report showed a slowing in U.S. soy export sales as expected. Old crop soybean sales totaled 392,000 MT...

General Comments Grain and soy futures edged higher overnight supported by bargain hunters. That trend continued during the day session for the most part...

Next week on 15 March many U.S. farmers face an important deadline. They must decide by then whether or not to sign up for crop insurance for their corn, s...

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...

BSE Rule Re-Opened, Change Unlikely The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is reopening the comment period for the interim final rule entitled "Use of...

Corn Mexico Approves Argentine Corn Mexican authorities have approved imports of Argentine corn in order to circumvent the tight supply and demand situatio...

The U.S. trade community already likes Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Michael Punke, and today he reinforced why as he treated Washington's business bunc...

Biodiesel Production Falling in Europe, Argentina and Brazil After years of rapid growth, biodiesel production is in decline in some countries. This is not...

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...

TPP Deal for Decline: The deal is being done between the U.S. and Japan for an exchange of concessions in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade negotia...

General Comments USDA and other government offices were closed today as the Washington, DC metro area was forecast to get 6-10 inches of snow. This probabl...

Russian Grain Markets: 27 February – 5 March 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,930 MT of grain for exchange trading on 27 Feb...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS With financial problems in Egypt plaguing the government, GASC must look at a wide range of alternative methods to pay for need...

We should say that in our opinion, soybeans and soy markets have provided more excitement and tension over the past 50 years than any other major field cro...

General Comments The CME announced its latest new schedule for trading grain and soy futures. Beginning 8 April, electronic trading on Globex will open at...

Vending Impact on Food Safety: Food industry research firm Technomics says that the retailer meal solutions (RMS; prepared meals for takeout) category in g...

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...

T, T, T & I from USDA Outlook Forum Key points from four sessions (Technology, Transatlantic, Trade and Insurance) at USDA’s annual Outlook Forum...

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack today testified on the state of the rural economy before the House Agriculture Committee. Much of the testimony was on emergency...

After nominating new State, Treasury and Defense secretaries for his second term, President Obama today named three new picks for cabinet officials: Gina M...

USDA's Risk Management Agency (RMA) calculates the initial (and minimum) price levels for the crop revenue insurance program in the fall for winter-planted...

General Comments Markets were quiet in overnight trading with a steady to slightly lower bias. There wasn't much market-making news over the weekend. They...

India's Budget and Its Impact India's budget for the next fiscal year was unveiled last week. Many hoped there would be an announcement to fast-track the e...

SPS Litmus in TPP: U.S. aggies are pressing USTR to put an enforceability provision in the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) for the WTO-plus sanitary and ph...

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...

Market Sees Less Wheat Substituting for Corn Most Chinese feed plants recently have been decreasing wheat rations in feed because of wheat prices being inc...

There is a lot of significance to the month of March that shouldn't go unnoticed. It is the end of winter and the beginning of spring. It contains St. Patr...

Opposite Ways on Biotech: One of the U.S. goals in the upcoming EU-U.S. trade and investment agreement negotiations reportedly is to get Brussels to work m...

It's 1 March, Sequester Day, with no deal within reach. Yesterday two votes were taken on plans to avert the sequester. The Democratic plan failed 51-49 (s...

General Comments Markets again demonstrated their inability to rally two consecutive days by trading lower overnight and into the open outcry opening this...

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

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...

Trade and Wages: The U.S. economy must be in better shape because Americans are no longer sour toward trade. The latest Gallup survey shows 57 percent of A...

Sequester and Meat Plants Last Friday (see WPI 22 February) we wrote about the potential sequester and the political specter of furloughing meat inspectors...

Surprisingly Large U.S. Soy Export Sales Today's USDA export sales report showed surprisingly large U.S. export sales of soybeans and soymeal last week. Th...

General Comments CME delivery intentions against March futures consisted of 119 contracts of wheat, 185 contracts of oats and 2,932 contracts of soybean oi...

During the intense volatility that prevailed in commodity futures markets in 2007, 2008 and again in 2011, it was commonly asserted that the volatility was...

EU-U.S. Negotiating Angst: The newly proposed EU-U.S. Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership Agreement has launched dozens of discussions this week...

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 This morning USDA reported an export sale of 120,000 MT of old crop soybeans to unknown destinations (probably China) and a sale of 120,00...

Big Sales of Soybean Oil Several crushers last week liquidated their long positions on soyoil, which might seem strange considering farmers' grain retentio...

Russian Grain Markets: 20-26 February 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 65,004 MT of grain for exchange trading on 20 February a...

Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) are the 38-digit tracking mechanism for ethanol compliance. A RIN is generated when ethanol is produced, but it can...

Rosario Exchanges Cuts Forecast for Argentine Soybean Production The Rosario Grains Exchange today reduced its forecast for Argentine soybean production th...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS The biggest news out of Egypt this week was Nomani Nomani's resignation from GASC after several years of overseeing wheat purch...

Jones Act Under Threat: U.S. aggies tried for decades to rid the burden of the U.S. flagged shipping requirement (AKA the Jones Act) for government impelle...

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 Overnight trade was mixed with corn retaining some of yesterday's strength while soybeans and wheat bounced around on both sides of unchan...

"Hope springs eternal," as the old saying goes, and in terms of U.S. corn and soybean crops for 2013/14, last week's projections from the USDA Outlook Conf...

Indian Wheat Exports Continue at Lower Prices Good weather and timely showers in India's northern belt during the past week have given hope for a bumper cr...

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...

EU Ag Going Naked: The European Union has delayed for a couple of weeks a decision on cancelling the use of certain pesticides on agricultural crops. While...

China to Prioritize Grain Security The Chinese government recently stated that prioritizing grain security and guaranteeing the supply of major farm produc...

Food inflation for 2012 was up 1.8 percent last year, compared with 4.7 percent in 2011. Gasoline prices rose 1.7 percent in 2012, following gains of almos...

General Comments The markets were steady to slightly higher much of the first half of the night trading, but gradually started to weaken toward daylight wi...

The season of winter farm meetings is quickly drawing to a close even though much of the farm belt has a cover of snow (at last). I was at three meetin...

Milling Wheat Offers for Russian and Ukrainian wheat have disappeared. The new crop Russian wheat is offered at $285 for 12.5 percent protein and at $275 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'...

General Comments It was the final day of USDA's Outlook Conference, and their corn and soybean projections were bearish with forecasts for a record U.S. co...

Everyone knew that USDA would release big corn and soybean yield and crop production estimates at their annual outlook conference this week — and that's ex...

As we reported on 15 March, time is marching toward the sequester on 1 March, unless Congress delays it (again.) The sequester would cut $85 billion from t...

Soybean Export Sales Decline, Good Soymeal and Soyoil Export Sales Today's USDA export sales report indicated U.S. net soybean export sales declined by 119...

General Comments Yesterday's green numbers turned red today. Grains and the soy complex turned lower in overnight trading, and that was the trend as well t...

EPA Releases Personal Info on Livestock Operators: The National Cattlemen's Beef Association (NCBA) was informed this week by the U.S. Environmental Protec...

In a letter to the editors of the Wall Street Journal appearing in today's edition, Professor Ronald L. McKinnon of Stanford University writes about the "c...

Addicted to Failure: The New York Times is highlighting a new book by one of its reporters that accuses the food industry of masterminding consumer "addict...

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...

Aggies Losing in DC: Farm groups rejected a proposal by Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) and Senate Agriculture Committee Chair Debbie Stabenow...

Supreme Court Appears to Support Monsanto on Biotech Royalties The justices on the U.S. Supreme Court appeared to be very supportive yesterday of the right...

Russian Grain Markets: 13-19 February 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,996 MT of grains for exchange commodity trading on 13...

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 In the short term grain and soy markets are contending with two main sources of influence: weather and demand. The weather factor consists...

Corn: No Clear Trend on Argentine Corn Premiums Argentine new crop corn is currently experiencing both bullish and bearish influences. This is the main rea...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS The Egyptian government says that the local currency — the Egyptian pound — will not collapse under the weight of t...

While the annual USDA Outlook Conference is ready to tee off tomorrow to discuss the current state and future outlook of the agriculture economy, The Washi...

General Comments Soybeans are an important crop, so much so that the way they are grown has become a topic to be argued tomorrow in front of the U.S. Supre...

It is a bit redundant to say that the corn futures market "wants" to be bearish since it has fallen about 50 cents so far (10:30 AM as of 19 February) duri...

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...

Ironies of Sequester Politics: Nearly all agree that the across the board U.S. budget cuts (sequester) slated for 1 March is worse policy than making cuts...

A week ago we took a peek at what the U.S. wheat production and balance sheet might look like in the 2013/14 marketing year. Today we take a look at what w...

General Comments The screens were "green" overnight and that buying carried over into today's activity. Volume, however, was very light. Wheat led the mark...

Senate Democrats, with backing from the White House, yesterday proposed a plan to avert the sequester by cutting $120 billion. One quarter of the savings 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'...

Sequestration War: Senate Democrats have produced a package of tax increases and spending cuts that would offset the spending needed to avoid sequestration...

Where's the Beef? USDA's semi-annual beef cattle survey for January 2013 shows that the beef herd in January 2014 will be about 1.5 percent smaller than it...

Over the past few weeks, we have come across a number of things related to markets and agriculture that attracted our attention and, we think, deserve some...

EURAFTA Skepticism II: Anyone looking for reasons to be skeptical about the success of a U.S.-European negotiating effort on free trade need only see remar...

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 Trade in grains and the soy complex was indecisive overnight and volume was light. Asian traders should begin returning to action starting...

Soy Export Sales Below Expectations The expected sharp decline in U.S. soybean and soymeal export sales seems to have come. Today's USDA export sales repor...

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 Overnight trading opened with the grains and soy complex trying to rally after the recent liquidation shakeout, but a flood of new selling...

Russian Grain Markets: 6-12 February 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,915 MT of grains for exchange trading on 6 February an...

State of the Union (SOTU) addresses are often eloquent speeches that rarely do more than bolster supporters and irritate detractors. Last night's version b...

Wheat The Brazilian government last week decided to lift its wheat import tax for non-Mercosur origins. The tax will be suspended from April to July of thi...

SOTU and Food Safety: President Obama is expected to highlight many horrors of sequestration during his State of the Union address tonight. The goal is to...

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 yesterday released its annual updated long-term projections for U.S. production and global trade of all major commodities. The projections are in many...

USDA's annual Outlook Conference is held in late February, and just prior to it each year USDA releases its updated 10-year baseline projections for the ag...

The U.S. trade deficit dropped to a seasonally adjusted $38.5 billion in November, down 21 percent from October and the smallest deficit in nearly three ye...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS Poultry prices in Egypt have experienced a sudden jump, with the cost of local chicken up by about 15 percent in the past coupl...

General Comments Grain and soy futures markets saw another wave of non-commercial liquidation today amid heavy trading volume. It was not a panicky "get-me...

Agricultural commodity prices may still rally on crop failures, but there are plenty of other fundamentals providing a bearish outlook (see table below). W...

Low Grain Production Estimates The second estimates for India's 2012/13 grain production were released last week. Target production for the marketing year...

Last week's collapse in new crop futures markets followed by Friday's meltdown in old crop soybean futures has producers spooked for the first time since t...

General Comments Most of the weekend commentary seemed to blame last Friday's collapse in the soybean market on the fact that USDA did not reduce Argentina...

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...

Soyoil Consumption Continues to Grow China's 2011/2012 edible oil consumption stands at 22.7 MMT, nearly a 1 percent increase year on year. Of that amount,...

With 19 ethanol plants shutting down since June, the latest WASDE report now shows that 42 percent of the corn supply will go into ethanol. Production fell...

At the National Association of State Departments of Agriculture (NASDA) winter policy conference in Washington this week, animal welfare was among the topi...

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 Following yesterday's steep losses in every contract except nearby soybeans, the markets generally traded close to the vest overnight and...

Cuts Focus on Direct Payments: Leaders from the European Union member states agreed to a 960 billion-euro baseline during 2014-20, a 35 billion-euro reduct...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market was very quiet this week. The rumors about one or two cargoes of U.S. SRW being sold to Russia remain unconfirmed...

The February WASDE report generally is not a market-maker, and today was no exception. The trade again was braced for a bearish report, especially in corn...

General Comments Grain and soy futures prices were generally lower overnight, although trade was erratic as weather forecasts for the dry areas of South Am...

Weather Dry weather continues to be the trend in Argentina, and there is concern about the corn and soybean yields. The forecast called for good rain cover...

An erstwhile wise man once observed that everything in life is cyclical. We are not sure how inclusive the use of the word "everything" was intended, but t...

Regulatory Overlap: Some members of the U.S. Senate are proposing legislation to clear up a regulatory overlap that the courts created when they ruled that...

Chinese Pork Reserves Tapped Economic growth, lead time demand, and supply and delivery problems caused by cold weather in November and December have pushe...

Coercing Argentine Soy Sales It is no secret the Argentine economy is in bad shape and getting worse. The country has runaway inflation and a plunging curr...

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 We commented yesterday that Stats Canada's estimate of Canadian canola stocks as of 31 December was slightly lower than expected and at a...

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...

Russian Grain Markets: 30 January – 5 February 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,935 MT of grains for exchange trading on 5 F...

SOTU to Faltering: Earlier this week, it was speculated that President Obama might mention the launch of a trans-Atlantic trade agreement in his upcoming S...

Argentina -- Aqui Vamos Otra Vez: Supermarkets in Argentina have been asked by the government to voluntarily freeze food prices in 2013. Buenos Aires hopes...

2013 Political Economy and Implications Trade and non-oil commodity values will fare better than overall economic growth, but there is plenty of trouble ar...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS GASC Vice Chairman Nomani Nomani last week said there is no reason to be concerned about supplies of wheat or wheat flour and t...

The CME Group's announcement yesterday that it would end open outcry pit trading of hard red winter wheat futures and options contracts at the Kansas City...

Argentine Dryness an Increasing Concern The market is increasingly concerned about the ongoing dryness in Argentina and its possible impact on that country...

General Comments The overnight session was dull; prices were mixed and the market lacked any enthusiasm for moving up or down. The only news, which was not...

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...

It is less than one month before the new 1 March sequestration deadline. The original sequester was to be triggered on 3 January 2013 if Congress failed to...

Corn and soybeans have been the primary focus of the markets since last summer's U.S. Corn Belt drought. That drought didn't have much impact on U.S. wheat...

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...

Setting the 2013 renewable volume obligations (RVOs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) was not the only ethanol-related policy update the Environment...

China's Urbanization Faces Food Challenges Officials from the Leading Group on Rural Work under the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China recen...

Stiffing the Customer: If U.S. antitrust laws applied to government officials, Commerce Under Secretary for International Trade Francisco Sanchez would be...

Changing Eating Habits and Values What are rising incomes and growing urbanization changing in India? Most experts point to food habits. As the saying goes...

General Comments The markets opened steady to higher Sunday based on less-than-expected rainfall across Argentina and a basically dry, warm forecast throug...

Gloss over Good News: The U.S. Centers for Disease Control issued its recent "Surveillance for Foodborne Disease Outbreaks – United States 2009-2010" amid...

General Comments Markets were again firm in the overnight trade and rallied higher early this morning led by double-digit gains in soybeans. We are in a we...

Milling Wheat The wheat market in the Black Sea is extremely quiet. The major Mediterranean and Middle Eastern destinations seem to be well covered for Feb...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has released the 2013 "renewable volume obligations" (RVOs) for 2013 under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)...

Soybeans are now in the first South Amnerican weather market of the year. The problem centers in Argentina, where it has gone from way too much rain in Oct...

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

Weather and Crops Most of Argentina's agricultural area received good rain coverage during August-December 2012. In some areas of Pampa Humeda, the core ag...

Here we are again in another January. This means that the world soybean industry is gearing up for its annual shift in focus from the U.S. soybean supplies...

General Comments The weekly Export Sales report mostly fell below market expectations, but not by enough to be much of a market factor. Export sales in the...

Export Sales Report Shows Slowing Soybean Sales for 2012/13 Today's USDA Export Sales report indicated U.S. exporters last week sold 386,000 MT of soybeans...

Japan Open to 30-Month-Old Beef Tomorrow Last week we reported that Japan could lift its beef import restrictions on U.S. beef for animals 30 months old by...

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...

Slapped and Squirming: Less than a week after a federal judge ruled that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) had exceeded its authority by manda...

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: 23-29 January 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,928 MT of grains for exchange trading on 23 January 20...

General Comments Futures started out lower in overnight electronic trading, but it did not take long for support to develop. When corn and soybean prices p...

Farm Bill Issues: There are at least two issues bubbling up amidst the effort to reauthorize the U.S. farm bill: BOBSAT and dairy. With farmland values ris...

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...

Small Decline in Canadian Canola Planting Predicted Agriculture Canada this week issued its first forecast for crop plantings for 2013. The report surprise...

It has often been said that "high prices are the best cure for high prices." We have used this old phrase more than once ourselves. The assumption is that...

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has been considering several new "pathways" to advanced ethanol, including grain sorghum (see WPI 30 October...

Farm Labor Competitiveness: Politicians in Washington have begun rallying around the concept of finally enacting immigration reform. The bipartisan Senate...

General Comments In a letter to interested parties, the CME announced that even though it is still in the midst of surveying customers on trading hours, it...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS A long article in the Egyptian daily newspaper Al Ahram this week pointed out that for most Egyptians, little or nothing has ch...

General Comments Markets opened higher Sunday evening led by 6- to 8-cent gains in soybeans. The Sunday afternoon weather was slightly warmer and drier for...

The markets have been expecting record crop production in Brazil and Argentina this year, and that has cast a bearish pale over the new crop markets. Weath...

Starch Sector Bleeding, Yet Expanding The production of corn during the major harvest season in October suffered because of scanty rainfall. Prices surged...

China to Boost Dairy Investment Overseas Yashili, one of China's top dairy producers, recently announced that it will invest $210 million in building a mil...

Bye, Bye Bali: Trade ministers meeting outside of the World Economic forum all agreed that they need to arrive at an initial package of trade provisions 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...

President Obama has promised to take up immigration reform during this session of Congress, and post-election -- especially after all the slicing and dicin...

Everyone understands that world weather in 2013 will be critically important to commodity suppliers and prices. World feed grains supplies are hovering aro...

General Comments Markets were mixed overnight in relatively light volume. Trading volume in the last hour today was pathetically small. Yesterday's late re...

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

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market has been quiet this week and no major trades were reported. The EU allocated 364,000 MT of export licenses, bringi...

A federal court today rejected a key part of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) mandate for cellulosic fuels, but it also ruled against a complaint...

We Were Wrong: A U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics found that people were best at comp...

It has been nearly two weeks since USDA released the quarterly stocks report, final U.S. corn and soybean production estimates, planted winter wheat acreag...

Where's the Beef, or Pork, or Chicken? It is probably unfair to delve too deeply into the meaning of the menu at the presidential inaugural luncheon, but t...

Corn ARGENTINA Both the old crop and new crop corn markets in Argentina have remained pretty quiet. Several sellers are still holding parcels or cargoes to...

India Doubles Benchmark Vegoil Import Prices The Indian government today raised the minimum taxable price for vegoil imports as expected. The minimum impor...

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...

LDP Chooses TPP: Reports indicate that Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has instructed his cabinet ministers to begin more proactively pursuing trade neg...

General Comments On a day in which fresh news or market inputs were very limited to nonexistent, traders were forced to turn to South American weather fore...

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: 16-22 January 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,793 MT of grains for exchange trading on 16 January 20...

USDA Ignores USTR: Part of the Obama government is upset about the growing number of government requirements around the world that goods and services be pu...

General Comments Overnight trade in grains and the soy complex began with mixed results. Corn and wheat seemed to want to move lower, but the continued cha...

Shifting trade flows for major agricultural commodities are usually directed by prices and comparative values. When it comes to agricultural trade, it has...

Big Increase in China's Soymeal Exports in CY 2012 Since China built about twice as much soybean crush capacity as its actual crush volume, there has been...

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 EGYPT COMMENTS The European Union last week announced that it could provide Egypt with $6.5 billion in loans, grants and credit lines. As expe...

The weather in 2012 was dramatic, to say the least. The U.S. had a record drought in its heartland and a hurricane, dubbed Superstorm Sandy, on the East Co...

General Comments After the Monday holiday, the first trading of the week opened last night with wheat, corn and soybeans prices moving higher. There seemed...

Milling Wheat The wheat market in the Black Sea was very quiet this week. Apart from a rumor that a cargo of Ukrainian wheat traded at $350 FOB, there were...

As Washington -- and the U.S. economy -- has been looking out over the fiscal cliff, some perspective has been lost on the economic landscape traversed in...

General Comments Markets were generally firm overnight with soybeans showing more strength than corn or wheat. That changed about the time the U.S. came to...

Every year, and often several times a year, we are obliged to write about the U.S. crop insurance program. It is a very important piece of the acreage puzz...

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

Australia is experiencing record fire danger and, at the time of writing this report, has over 100 wildfires. Firefighters have struggled to cope with doze...

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 were generally weaker in overnight trading. When March soybeans could not hold above their four-week high, technical...

Mystery Meat Ingredient: Horse Burger Last week Sweden discovered that exports of meat labeled "Argentine beef tenderloin" from Hungary were in fact dyed p...

U.S. Soy Export Sales Much Higher Than Expected Market analysts surveyed by Dow Jones this week expected today's USDA export sales report to show that last...

Experts a Skeptical Lot: WPI surveyed 32 top level experts in the Washington agriculture and trade community, several with direct trade negotiation experie...

Soybeans: More Activity in Brazil and PNW, Little Movement in Argentina Soybeans had good movement last week in the PNW for spot positions. This origin was...

We hesitate to belabor the series of reports from USDA last week. Yet we cannot stay away from them because of the changes forced upon the prevailing conve...

Useful Data: WTO Director General Pascal Lamy announced jointly with the OECD a new database calculating the value-added aspects of traded goods and servic...

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: 8-15 January 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,978 MT of grains for exchange trading on 15 January 201...

The soy complex dominated the markets as a "star performer" on Wednesday, 15 January 1997, and set a "firm tone" for the corn market. According to WPI's ma...

General Comments Following the bullish reports from USDA, grain and soy futures prices strengthened as the need to slow down the domestic use of corn and b...

Well, USDA's January 2013 reports lived up to the reputation that the January reports have for being exciting. The increased final production estimates for...

USDA Report Shows Predicting Soybean Yields Not Easy Last Friday's USDA NASS final crop production report indicated the U.S. soybean crop in 2012 totaled 3...

Vilsack Needed on Farm Bill: Previous administrations have been highly engaged with Congress in the writing of new farm bills. The Reagan Administration ha...

Congress will be preoccupied with fiscal matters this year. The following is a short look at the fiscal timeline that will dictate the upcoming schedule fo...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS There was a great deal of discussion this week regarding financing for Egypt, much of it in hopes of supporting the Egyptian po...

General Comments Prior to the 11 January reports from USDA, grain and soy markets slumped because of a sense that prices had already gone high enough, that...

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 markets have responded to last Friday's bullish corn and wheat reports as expected. Today's steep rally in the soybean market was perhaps a little stro...

USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack is in Nashville to address the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). Back in Washington, USDA Director of Communications Matt...

China to Boost Biotech Industry The State Council, China's national cabinet, on 8 January announced that the government will provide further support to the...

General Comments Asia and Europe came back to work last night for the first time since USDA's reports were released last Friday. Markets opened very firm a...

Indian Wheat Poised For Better Price Recovery Following up on the story from 7 January 2013, the current weather conditions in North India are optimal for...

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...

UnCOOL Damage: The Canadian Pork Council released the results of its study proclaiming $500 million in damages annually as a result of the U.S. Country of...

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 It was a particularly vicious day across the agricultural markets today. Everything was weak most of the night, and that weakness turned i...

Lost (so far) in the debate over the federal deficit and debt ceiling is perhaps the most basic question: What is the goal of federal deficit reduction? Th...

TPA Moves Up: Trade Promotion Authority (TPA), the U.S. president's ability to ask Congress for an up or down vote on trade agreements, thus barring them f...

Today's USDA reports were very bullish corn, somewhat bullish wheat and neutral for soybeans. Here are the key issues: Corn 1 December corn stocks more th...

Milling Wheat The market in the Black Sea had a quiet start after the holidays. The Russian and the Ukrainian old crop wheat positions are practically unsp...

General Comments There is not a lot to say about the markets during the last full trading day before the key USDA reports. Traders were working on position...

The ability of scientists to introduce genetic traits from outside sources into common agricultural crops (GMO crops) has caused more controversy during th...

Moderate Soy Export Sales Last Week Today's USDA FAS export sales reports showed moderate soy export sales last week. Total soybean export sales for 2012/1...

Postharvest Attention: The Institution of Mechanical Engineers received media attention for its somewhat self-serving report on the post-harvest food losse...

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...

Chicken Profits Fly Higher on Wings The holidays (and maybe more importantly, the college football bowl season and professional football playoffs) have com...

Russian Grain and Oilseed Markets: 24-28 December 2012 Due to the holidays (31 December – 7 January), information on the Russian grain and oilseed markets...

General Comments NOAA's National Climatic Data Center released its report on 2012 which declares that the average U.S. temperature for 2012 was 55.3 degree...

Farm Bill Hurdle: Lobbyists are paid to make things happen in Washington, but ultimately their power is derived from the size and importance of the clients...

A New Year Begins: How About Logistics? By the end of 2012, many companies were looking forward to the New Year. It had not been a good campaign in general...

Like it or not, USDA's January reports can take their toll on the markets. Ben Beneke on Thursday, 11 January 2001 observed that a "great deal of anticipat...

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...

As markets and market participants make ready for the important bevy of USDA reports on Friday (11 January), we thought we should make way for them by clea...

General Comments Trading during the overnight session was quiet and without much direction as prices chopped about narrow ranges. Fresh input was lacking,...

Indian Soymeal Exports Fall Sharply in December The Solvent Extractors' Association (SEA) of India this week reported that Indian soymeal exports in Decemb...

In a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio), House Agriculture Committee Ranking Member Collin Peterson (D-Minnesota) has asked that the speaker and...

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 EGYPT COMMENTS A meeting between Egyptian leaders and senior IMF staff is expected to be held this week in Cairo to discuss details of the $4...

There was a bearish lean in everyone's outlook for 2013 agricultural commodity markets (see graph below). Presumably, there is a bearish and volatile view...

USDA will release a series of reports at 11 a.m. this Friday, 11 January that could have a major impact on markets' directions. These reports -- which incl...

Partial Food Safety: The Obama Administration finally issued part of the proposed regulations for implementing the Food Safety Modernization Act approved...

General Comments The trading pattern of the markets was reversed from the recent "norm" last night and today. That might have been a slight disturbance in...

Corn Sales Pick Up in Northeast China Before the New Year After the cash corn market's low trading volume trend prevailed for a couple weeks, corn sales 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...

Wheat Export Possibility: Can the 10 MMT Mark Be Reached? The government of India (GOI) and its agencies are very much concerned about the huge wheat stock...

Congress is back in session, and one of the first orders of business will be to confirm several new Cabinet members, including the following: Senator Joh...

Where Fools Rush In Twice In yesterday's report, WPI's Bob Kohlmeyer provided his commodity market prognostications for 2013 entitled, "Where Fools Rush In...

The fiscal cliff legislation that brought about the nine-month extension of the 2008 Farm Bill could mean that what nearly accomplished in terms of a new f...

The durum market has done absolutely nothing over the past several months, while prices for nearly every other agricultural commodity were setting new all-...

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 The grain and oilseed markets continue to repeat the daily pattern we have seen since the fund liquidation started at the tail end of 2012...

Beef Feed Efficiency The U.S. cattle herd is at its smallest in more than 60 years and at a point where rebuilding is paramount for the future. In the near...

Long ago an old trader friend once told us that predicting the future is a harmless game unless one actually bets real money on his predictions. After all,...

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...

Contrasting Reactions to Technology: New York Times food bloviator Mark Bittman's New Year's toast accuses "hyper-industrial" agriculture of causing a half...

Retroactive Biodiesel Blenders' Credits Congress and the White House ultimately worked out a legislative fix that avoided the fiscal cliff scheduled to tak...

General Comments In December the Fed's FOMC voted to buy $85 billion of Treasury notes and mortgage bonds each month for an indefinite period of time. This...

Russian Grain and Oilseed Markets: 24-28 December 2012 Due to the holidays (31 December – 7 January), information on the Russian grain and oilseed markets...

Soybeans: Big crops in South America The last soybean campaign in South America was very disappointing. In November 2011, everyone was predicting productio...

Part 1 of Tax Battle Done, Longer War Ahead: There was no grand bargain in Washington over the New Year holiday, and that means more political rumble for w...

Commodities might have been the best performing asset class in 2010, but that soon changed in the following year. According to WPI's Bob Kohlmeyer on Tuesd...

General Comments Most financial and commodity markets enthusiastically greeted the Congress's passage of a last minute fix that avoids (at least for now) t...

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

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...

Illegal Drug in China's Poultry Production Raises Public Concerns China Central Television (CCTV), the nation's largest media outlet, recently reported tha...

General Comments The markets started steady to higher in extremely light volume Sunday evening, with soybeans trading as much as 7-8 cents higher. Volume w...

Both House and Senate Agriculture Committee leaders have agreed to an extension (i.e. until 30 September 2013) of certain provisions of the current farm bi...

The New Year will get off to a very nervous start with three major factors set to impact at the least the first few weeks of trading in 2013. Those factors...

Meat and Veggie Outlook: Food fashion prognosticators are saying that participants in meatless days will increase in 2013. This is likely due to a variety...

Government Increases Assured Wheat Price The Indian government (GOI) last week increased the minimum support price (MSP) for wheat by $11.81/MT, an increas...

General Comments The markets today repeated the pattern of the past several sessions. They were all firm overnight led by 12- to 14-cent gains in soybeans,...

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

No matter how you cut it, 2012 was a very good year to be a famer in the U.S. Not drought, pestilence or fiscal cliff could slow the juggernaut of rising n...

Livestock Traceability Now in Place USDA is scheduled to publish the final rule on livestock traceability today after last week announcing its completion...

Kick the can is, or perhaps we should say was, a children's game, a version of hide and seek. We can recall playing it when we were very young, but our sen...

General Comments Overnight trade was quiet in the absence of new inputs. Wheat was weaker with some traders trying to run ahead of index funds that are lik...

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...

Fiscal Cliff: Maytagged But Not Ended The fiscal cliff will be breeched. This is inevitable given that politicians in Washington during these final days ar...

Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson today announced her resignation. She is the second member of the Obama Cabinet to do so; S...

As we approach the end of 2012, it is worth taking a look back at the year's major events in the oilseeds sector and what may be in store in 2013. Perhaps...

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...

Animal Ag Beefs: For too long governments have resigned themselves to incurring the illegal trade practices of others on the basis that negotiation is bett...

'Twas the day after Christmas (on 26 December 2003), and all through the markets it was anything but quiet during another shortened trading session. WPI's...

General Comments Futures markets opened at 10:30 ET this morning for the first time since the Christmas holiday, but judging from today's very light tradin...

Corn Market Gains Strength Basis levels in the Argentine new corn market had been dropping slowly because of a lack of demand. Nevertheless, as FAS prices...

Russian Grain Markets: 17-21 December 2012 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,935 MT of grains for exchange trading on 19 December...

The older you get, the shorter your Christmas list gets. And so it is with me. The list not only becomes shorter but also simpler. And so it is with my mar...

Picking One's Battles: FDA is seeking 60 days of public comment on its proposed approval of AquAdvantage's genetically modified salmon. The environmental a...

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...

Seven new Republicans were appointed to the House Agriculture committee: two farmers, a large animal vet and four others who have not been so steeped in th...

General Comments Markets were firm overnight and this morning in extremely light Christmas Eve trading. In fact, trade volume was much lighter than expecte...

Food Security Bill Update The much anticipated national food security bill aims to provide and distribute 24 kilograms of food grains at a subsidized price...

General Comments The world survived the end of the Mayan calendar myth. Now we must see if we survive the fiscal cliff. The failure of the House Republican...

Milling Wheat The offers for Ukrainian and Russian wheat practically have disappeared due to the lack of farmers selling and bad weather in ports. Part of...

Here are a few more things to keep you up at night as we head home for the long holiday weekend. It appears we survived the end of the world according to...

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 Advanced Ethanol Coalition (AEC) this week issued an industry progress report for cellulosic biofuels that shows "a detailed look at the progress made...

Japanese Pivot: They were against it before they were for it. The new Japanese coalition government (LDP/New Komeito) announced post-election policy change...

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...

I am in Japan this week meeting with a wide array of individuals involved in Japan's trading, animal feed and animal production sectors. The meetings have...

General Comments The proposed acquisition of NYSE Euronext by the InterContinental Exchange (ICE) is a continuation of the pattern of consolidation among d...

An amendment to the Hurricane Sandy relief bill that would have extended livestock and specialty crop disaster assistance into next year failed in the Sena...

Back on 5 January 2012 we found our crystal ball that we had misplaced tucked in the back of a closet. We dusted it off, and looked to see what it had to s...

Government Markets Typically Gamed The EU member states voted to impose a 9.6 percent tariff on ethanol imported from the U.S. over the next five years, as...

Russian Grain Markets: 13-18 December 2012 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,990 MT of grains for exchange trading on 18 December...

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 Overnight trading in grain and soy futures was quiet and without much direction. Dalian soybean futures posted losses following yesterday'...

USDA, USTR Out of Sync: USDA has been at the forefront of encouraging consumption from local sources (Know Your Farmer, Know Your Food) and has had to be d...

It's almost that time of year when markets seem to embrace the holiday mood. Looking back, the markets on Thursday, 19 December 1996 were lightly traded. F...

Wheat Argentina's Domestic Commerce Secretary Guillermo Moreno recently met with exporters to inform them of the 20 percent cut in export licenses. It was...

The first quarter (September-November) of the 2012/13 U.S. soybean year has flown by, and we are into the early weeks of the second quarter. That the first...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS The IMF loan agreement with Egypt has been postponed until January 2013 at the request of the Egyptian government due to the cu...

General Comments Grains and the soy complex opened mixed in overnight trading, but the complex soon came under pressure from slumping soymeal prices on Chi...

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 coverage of the nation's fiscal cliff dilemma has become something akin to a game show. Just as an audience roots for contestants, the press is now ch...

Higher Prices Needed to Ration Soybean Demand Last week's export sales report and this week's NOPA crush report shows the pace of U.S. soybean use is quick...

Egg Production to Increase in India The growth of India's egg sector in the last few years has been impressive. Even with high feed costs, production grew...

General Comments Today was another disappointing day for the bulls. Markets opened very firm yesterday afternoon with soybeans showing double-digit gains m...

Soybean Crusher Operation Rate Rises in China Because China's soybean crushing margin improved in the first half of the month, the crusher operation rate h...

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...

WTO Litigation Up: The number of dispute settlement cases filed at the WTO has skyrocketed, forcing the organization to reassign staff to deal with the wor...

It is almost the end of December and it is still raining across much of Argentina. The forecast this week still looks wet. Over the weekend 1-2 more inches...

We have long maintained that the math behind the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is unsustainable. As previously asserted, 2013 will be the year that RFS ref...

General Comments Markets were trading higher across the board most of the day led by strong gains in the soy complex. Demand for soybeans and soy products...

Earlier this week (see WPI 11 December) we wrote that the potential reinstatement of the biodiesel blenders' tax credit could impact Brazilian sugar ethano...

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