World Perspectives
feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Spreads and Stuff

Once upon a time, grain and soy futures market spreads were major topics for discussion and analysis. However, it seems that interest in futures spreads has languished compared to the “old days.” Market spreads were actively traded by speculators in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s. There was a small cadre of traders in the corn, soybean and wheat pits who specialized in spread trading either as speculation for their own account or as brokers executing orders from clients. Our sense is that interest in spread trading declined as speculation in grain markets became increasingly concentrated in managed money funds rather than in the hands of individual traders. The growing volume of trade based on chart trading and technical trading pr...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Geopolitics, Energy, and Macro Correlations Shape Agricultural Markets

Key Market Developments Markets opened mixed after reports that Iran signaled a willingness to discuss ending the conflict with the United States. Sentiment improved further after President Trump stated that U.S. strikes had significantly degraded Iranian military capabilities and outlined meas...

Old World Order; People Not Plants; Tariff Refunds

Old World Order The geopolitical impacts of the war on Iran continue, but Wall Street recovered today, aided by strong employment data. Iran announced a ban on food exports to protect its own food security. The measure will impact sales of saffron, pistachios, dates, and other products. While o...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.4375/bushel, down $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.6825/bushel, down $0.0575 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.695/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $309.9/short ton, down $...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Geopolitics, Energy, and Macro Correlations Shape Agricultural Markets

Key Market Developments Markets opened mixed after reports that Iran signaled a willingness to discuss ending the conflict with the United States. Sentiment improved further after President Trump stated that U.S. strikes had significantly degraded Iranian military capabilities and outlined meas...

Old World Order; People Not Plants; Tariff Refunds

Old World Order The geopolitical impacts of the war on Iran continue, but Wall Street recovered today, aided by strong employment data. Iran announced a ban on food exports to protect its own food security. The measure will impact sales of saffron, pistachios, dates, and other products. While o...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.4375/bushel, down $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.6825/bushel, down $0.0575 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.695/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $309.9/short ton, down $...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Black Sea Regional Analysis

Russian Grain Markets: 23–27 February 2026 The Russian grain market turned bearish during the final week of February as global trends and heavy domestic stocks pressured values across most regions. According to updated 2025 crop data from Rosstat, total grain production reached 141.15 mil...

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From WPI Consulting

Communicating importance of value-added products

Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.

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