Fed cattle prices remain at record levels, but the market has been bearish with dropping futures and a weak cash market; prices dropped last week about $2...

British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak has proposed that anyone turning 15 years of age or younger in 2024 will be banned forever from purchasing cigarettes. E...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.31/bushel, down $0.005 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.4975/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Regional Updates Due to the Ramadan Eid El Fitr holidays ending, there is no grain news or...

The CBOT was mostly lower to start the week with a rising U.S. dollar and favorable weather for the U.S. and South America pressuring values. Some jitters...

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Glenn Thompson (R-Pennsylvania) has stated that he will move a farm bill draft out of committee in May; the Ranking Mi...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.315/bushel, down $0.04 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.5175/bushel, down $0.0425 from yesterday's close.&n...

Sparks to Fly U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai appears before House and Senate committees this week to testify on the Biden Administration’s 2...

Because pets are not just an emotional support but an economic burden, the change in global pet ownership is correlated with changes in GDP. The world has...

Corn Estimates of Argentina’s corn harvest continue to decrease, mainly due to the impact of Spiroplasma bacteria. The Rosario Grain Exchange lowered...

Trade in ag futures saw greatly diverging trends on Friday with the grains and oilseeds markets strengthening after Thursday’s relatively bearish WAS...

This week’s inflation reports have added some turbulence to the Federal Reserve’s approach to bringing the economy in for a soft landing. ...

The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.355/bushel, up $0.0675 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.56/bushel, up $0.0425 from yesterday's close. ...

The Market After dropping lower during the first four trading sessions of this week, May soybeans closed up on Friday by nearly 15 cents. However, that onl...

USDA increased U.S. soybean ending stocks for 2023/24 by 25 million bushels to 340 million. The U.S. season-average soybean price for 2023/24 is forecast a...

USDA increased the U.S. corn use for ethanol and feed – which reduced ending stocks 50 million bushels to 2.1 billion. The season-average farm price...

USDA raised U.S. wheat ending stocks for 2023/24 by 25 million bushels to 698 million, 22 percent above last year. The season-average farm price is reduced...

Export Sales and Shipments for March 29 to April 4, 2024 Wheat:  Net sales of 80,700 metric tons (MT) for 2023/2024 were up noticeably from the previo...

When you see a bear, start backward charging, and that is what corn, beans, and wheat did today. The Board was under pressure ahead of the release of USDA&...

Wrong at the Top We admit as private policy analysts that sometimes we add 1+1 and get three. It turns out top government officials can make the same mista...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.2875/bushel, down $0.055 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.5175/bushel, down $0.0675 from yesterday's close...

The USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) announced this week that it will not publish the July cattle inventory report. Further it will dop...

The CBOT was mixed on the last full trading day before the April WASDE with the corn and wheat markets seeing support and ending higher, while the soy comp...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.3425/bushel, up $0.03 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.585/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close. ...

Last year, the value of oil, energy, and agricultural commodities all fell. This caused reduced earnings at some large trading firms but, according to McKi...

Food and IT Arrogance The EU was supposed to issue an updated “protein strategy” early this year but it has been postponed until perhaps late t...

Russian Grain Markets: 1–5 April 2024 The government has realized that taxing exportable wheat and barley at a high rate was not a good idea, especia...

The CBOT was mostly lower on Tuesday with traders increasingly focused on preparing for Thursday’s WASDE report amid little fresh news. Declining cru...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.3125/bushel, down $0.0425 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.5775/bushel, down $0.08 from yesterday's close.&...

Outcomes Not Competition  Darwin’s “survival of the fittest” and Ricardo’s “comparative advantage” are so century...

Anyone knowledgeable about the complexity of animal agriculture, and the general public’s weariness about the husbandry and slaughter processes knows...

E15: It is 9 April; by 1 May terminals that blend gasoline with ethanol need to be in compliance with summer-grade gasoline specifications that are effecti...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Muslim countries will celebrate the Eid-al-Fitr period as Ramadan ends th...

The CBOT saw mixed trade to start the week with traders mostly content to adjust positions heading into Thursday’s WASDE report. Corn and wheat futur...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.355/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.6575/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.&nb...

The March labor market report was released last week, and both the report and the revisions for prior months were positive news on the employment front. Ho...

Wheat There is much talk about Argentina’s new wheat campaign outlook that mostly centers on the uncertainty regarding planted area. The consensus ri...

Regional News  Tunisia purchased 75 KMT of soft wheat at prices of $233.25-329.90/MT C&F along with 50 KMT of hard wheat at $383.93-384.48/MT C&am...

The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...

The CBOT was mostly higher on Friday with wheat futures leading the way on the heels of a rally in Paris wheat and concerning weather developments for the...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.3425/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.6725/bushel, up $0.11 from yesterday's close. ...

The war in the Ukraine has now entered year three, after initial predictions in February 2022 that it would last two weeks. As a general rule of thumb, the...

The Market On the one hand, soyoil rallied this week due to rising crude oil prices, and despite weakness in palm oil. The May soyoil contract added almost...

Export Sales and Shipments for March 22-28, 2024. Wheat:  Net sales of 16,100 metric tons (MT) for 2023/2024 were down 95 percent from the previous we...

Overall trading volume today was modest, even low for corn, but robust for soymeal. One market influence is wetter conditions in Brazil, but the more notab...

Non-Trade Representative U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai is a lawyer by training, not an economist – and it shows. She is blaming globalizati...

The Federal Milk Marketing Order (FMMO) hearing is now closed. All final arguments had to be submitted by 1 April. From 23 August 2023 through 30 January 2...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.3525/bushel, up $0.035 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.5625/bushel, up $0.0025 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

The CBOT started the overnight session on a strong note with solid volume and most markets heading into the green. Fresh fundamental news was light and it...

AI and Ag Public policy on artificial intelligence is a tricky topic. On the one hand, policymakers are trying to avoid their worst fears about its potenti...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.3175/bushel, up $0.0525 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.56/bushel, up $0.1075 from yesterday's close. ...

Equities closed mixed for the day with gold up another 1.5 percent, the dollar down, oil and corn ended higher. Some large market players are concerned tha...

Russian Grain Markets: 25–29 March 2024 Last week, the Russian domestic grain market was volatile. Most of the grains were recovering following globa...

The CBOT and broader financial/macroeconomic markets reflected uncertainty and rising geopolitical risks on Tuesday with traders adopting a strong “r...

As WPI reported on 26 March (see here), HPAI was discovered as the “mystery illness” affecting dairy cows in Texas and Kansas, and then New Mex...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.265/bushel, down $0.09 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.4525/bushel, down $0.1175 from yesterday's close.  May 2...

The global cocoa price hit $10,120/MT yesterday, triple its price last fall, and it is still unlikely to be at its apex. The cause is a sharp drop-off in p...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Egypt’s Ministry of Supply expects to receive 3.5 MMT of local whea...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.36/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.5875/bushel, up $0.0175 from yesterday's close. ...

The CBOT was mostly red on Monday with traders seeing little reason to buy the soy complex after a benign and semi-bearish Grain Stocks and acreage reports...

The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...

Trade Negotiation Calendar This week will include U.S. and EU officials gathering in Brussels for the sixth, and potentially last session of the Trade and...

Japan’s population is declining by a half percent per year and will be 2 million smaller this year than in 2020. Nearly a third of the population is...

As WPI reported last Thursday, the number of breeding sows on 1 March was 6.016 million head, down 2 percent from year ago levels. Part of that reduction i...

Regional News  Through 29 March, Ukraine has exported 35.593 MMT of grain for MY 2023/24, below the 37.382 MMT exported during the same period the pri...

Corn After a week without rain, Argentina’s corn harvest gained momentum and reached nearly 6 percent of the area. This had the consequent effect of...

Tomorrow, 29 March is a holiday for the CBOT/CME markets in observance of Good Friday. Please note that our office will also be closed. The next Ag Perspec...

USDA’s much anticipated Prospective Plantings and Quarterly Stocks reports had few shockers, but they did shuffle the board a bit. First, the top lin...

Today, USDA released its quarterly Hogs and Pigs report for the December through February quarter. The total inventory of hogs and pigs on 1 March was 74.6...

China doesn’t offer the best business environment for American companies and FDI has plummeted. But Xi Jinping told CEO’s that his country will...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.42/bushel, up $0.1525 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.6025/bushel, up $0.1275 from yesterday's close. ...

Export Sales and Shipments for period March 15-21, 2024. Wheat:  Net sales of 339,600 metric tons (MT) for 2023/2024 were down noticeably from the pre...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.2675/bushel, down $0.0575 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.475/bushel, up $0.04 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Trade at the CBOT was mostly lower heading into Thursday’s Grain Stocks and Prospective Plantings reports from the USDA, but wheat futures managed to...

BRICS Grain Exchange Russia is reportedly pushing other BRICS members to use the bloc as a grain exchange in competition with the West. The assertion is th...

The USDA attache’s office in New Delhi reports that India issued revised import rules last month for premium duck meat. The tariff was reduced from 3...

Russian Grain Markets: 18–22 March 2024 The Russian domestic grain market saw depreciation of milling wheat and a slight depreciation of feed wheat,...

Reactions to news headlines dominated Tuesday’s commodity trade with markets selling off in defensive, risk-off price action. As is discussed in more...

Factless Nostalgia There is yet another crusader against the modern agrifood system. This time it is Austin Frerick, who claims authenticity due to his Iow...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.325/bushel, down $0.0525 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.435/bushel, down $0.115 from yesterday's close.&n...

The market reacted bearishly to reports of HPAI in dairy cows in Texas and Kansas, implying concerns about a demand shock. USDA advised there is no risk to...

Yesterday, there were two reports made public of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) detections in livestock. First, kid goats in Minnesota, who were...

The February Cold Storage report’s numbers reflect a significant drawdown in red meat and poultry stocks compared to one year ago. Total red meat and...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Egypt’s Prime minister says that the prices of essential goods will...

The biggest moves in ag commodity futures are in the vegoil markets right now, with stronger Malaysian palm oil exports and drought threats pushing values...

We’ve now had a couple of months in 2024 where economic report revisions have come in, and they have been significant. This has changed the outlook o...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.3775/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.55/bushel, up $0.0025 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Regional News  Russia’s grain stocks at the end of February totaled 28 MMT, down 2.7 percent compared to the prior year. Wheat stocks of 17.5 MM...

Corn The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange lowered its forecast of Argentina’s corn harvest estimate by 2.5 MMT down to 54 MMT last week. The main reasons...

U.S. Cattle on Feed is up 1 percent in U.S. feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head to total 11.8 million head on March 1, 2024.  Placements in f...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.3925/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.5475/bushel, up $0.08 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...

The wheat market was the surprising upside leader for the day with Matif Paris futures posting large gains after sources said the EU Commission is consider...

The Market The market has been squeezed between lower export demand but rising palm oil prices, with the latter pushing soybean prices to the highest in ov...

Fixing the WTO The 13th Ministerial Conference last month in Abu Dhabi was yet another failure by the WTO. Now Singapore has proposed a retreat to discuss...

USDA released the monthly Cattle on Feed report today. As has been the case more often than not since mid-2023, actual placements have exceeded the pre-rep...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.4075/bushel, up $0.0175 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.4675/bushel, up $0.0175 from yesterday's close.&nb...

Although it didn’t start out that way, today’s trading ended mostly in the green for grains and soybeans despite continued weak fundamentals an...

USDA will release its Cattle on Feed report tomorrow; the consensus pre-report analysts’ estimate is for the inventory of cattle on feed to be 101 pe...

Fake Meat Fight Some western state U.S. Senate Democrats are in tough reelection positions and need to show their distance from President Biden. Following...

Export Sales and Shipments for March 8-14, 2024 Wheat:  Net sales reductions of 109,600 metric tons (MT) for 2023/2024--a marketing-year low--were dow...

The CBOT largely reversed the trends of the prior two days as wheat futures pulled back while the soy complex jumped to sharp gains and the corn market saw...

India Paradox: A new report using the Modified Mixed Recall Period shows that over the past decade, India matched China’s success in the decade befor...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.39/bushel, down $0.005 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.45/bushel, down $0.075 from yesterday's close. ...

Russian Grain Markets: 11–15 March 2024 Russian grain markets remained slightly bullish in the south and Volga valley. However, export prices did not...

The CBOT was mostly sideways on Tuesday with traders consolidating positions ahead of next week’s Grain Stocks and Planting Intentions reports. Fresh...

May 24 Corn closed at $4.395/bushel, up $0.035 from yesterday's close.  May 24 Wheat closed at $5.525/bushel, up $0.0975 from yesterday's close. ...