Yesterday, there were two reports made public of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) detections in livestock. First, kid goats in Minnesota, who were...
Articles
February Cold Storage
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...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Egypt’s Prime minister says that the prices of essential goods will...
Market Commentary: Soy Complex Leads CBOT with Vegoil Rally
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...
Revising Down the Economy
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...
Summary of Futures
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...
European Market Analysis
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...
Mercosur Regional Analysis
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...
Cattle on Feed
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...
Summary of Futures
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...
CFTC COT Report Analysis
The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...
Market Commentary: Wheat Gains on EU Tariffs; Soy, Corn Drift Lower Before Stocks, Acres Reports
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...
Oilseed Highlights: Resistance Holds as Soybeans Bounce off the Ceiling
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 Winner is Ag
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...
Cattle on Feed Report: Record February Placements
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...
Summary of Futures
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...
Market Commentary: Bullish Outside Markets and a Spring Rally
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...
Livestock Roundup: Cattle on Feed Preview
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; Transatlantic Mutuality; Biofuel Instead of Food
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
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...
Market Commentary: Soy Complex Rallies on Vegoil Strength; Record Cow-Calf Profits Forecast for 2024
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...
Policy Shorts
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...
Summary of Futures
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. ...
Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 11–15 March 2024 Russian grain markets remained slightly bullish in the south and Volga valley. However, export prices did not...
Market Commentary: Wheat Gains Continue while Corn, Soy Slide Sideways
The CBOT was mostly sideways on Tuesday with traders consolidating positions ahead of next week’s Grain Stocks and Planting Intentions reports. Fresh...
Summary of Futures
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. ...
Trade Negotiation Calculation; UTP = You and Me; Real and Imagined
Trade Negotiation Calculation The WTO’s dispute settlement system and new multilateral trade negotiations fail from the perspective of Donald Trump a...
We All Scream
President Joe Biden is “bad talking” about the food industry, accusing it of greed for raising prices. While his focus was on “chips&rdqu...
President’s FY 2025 Budget Request for USDA
While Congress is finishing the last six appropriations bills for FY 2024 (with a deadline of this Friday), President Biden submitted his FY 2025 budget pr...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Grain information and activity in the MEA region was reduced greatly this...
Market Commentary: Corn, Soy Complex Pause Rallies while Technical Buying Lifts Wheat
When markets opened on Monday there were just nine trading sessions before the quarterly Grain Stocks and Acreage Intentions reports from USDA, which meant...
Monetary Policy Between a Rock and a Hard Place
The Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) will meet this week; interest rates were last raised in July 2023, and during Q4 when rates were held steady marke...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.36/bushel, down $0.0075 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.4275/bushel, up $0.1425 from yesterday's close.&nb...
Cahiers Redux – Politicians Recoil
The Cahiers de doléances [or kaje for short] were the pre-French revolution (1789) lists of societal complaints. The collective disappointments of t...
Brazil’s Meat Opportunity
Brazil has famously surpassed the U.S. as the world’s largest producer and exporter of soybeans, and it could become a more consistent top exporter o...
Mercosur Regional Analysis
Corn Intense rains have fallen over practically all of Argentina’s agricultural region in the last few days, delaying the corn harvest. The rep...
European Market Analysis
Regional News The EU Commission is proposing new support measures for farmers after widespread protests rocked the region in recent weeks. Farmers we...
Market Commentary: Technical Trade Dominates on Quiet Fundamentals
The CBOT was mixed to end the week with scant, fresh fundamental news leading to more technically-oriented trade over the past few weeks. Wheat futures wer...
CFTC COT Report Analysis
The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...
Oilseed Highlights: Close but no Cigar
The Market The May soybean contract trade above $12 several times this week intrasession but could not hold that number at the daily close. Nonetheless, th...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.3675/bushel, up $0.03 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.285/bushel, down $0.0375 from yesterday's close.&nbs...
Crop Program Payment Estimates for 2024
Today, sign-up for the Ag Risk Coverage (ARC) and Price Loss Coverage (PLC) programs closes; without a new farm bill, no changes have been made to either p...
Export Sales
Export Sales and Shipments for March 1-7, 2024. Wheat: Net sales of 83,800 metric tons (MT) for 2023/2024--a marketing-year low--were down 69 percent...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.3375/bushel, down $0.075 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.3225/bushel, down $0.12 from yesterday's close.&n...
Market Commentary: Quirky Export Sales and Low Momentum
Equities markets reacted negatively to inflationary U.S. economic indictors and spread a risk-off mentality to commodities. The dollar rose in response to...
Livestock Roundup: All Things Pork
Tyson Foods announced this week that it was shutting its Perry, Iowa plant. Press reports indicate that the facility has a capacity of about 9,000 hogs per...
Big is Bad; Big is Uncertain; Texas is Big
Big is Bad President Joe Biden has a popular proposal, increase taxes on less than 800 billionaires in the U.S. If some people worry about politics for sal...
Market Commentary: Lower Volume Except in Soyoil and Cattle
For most commodities it was a lackluster day but there was higher volume trading in soyoil and cattle. Palm oil was the support behind soyoil and cattle va...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.4125/bushel, down $0.005 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.4425/bushel, down $0.0325 from yesterday's close...
Squeaky Wheel; EATS Ugly
Squeaky Wheels Farmers in Europe have been on a rampage for months and it is good that EU political leaders are responding to the complaints. Squeaky wheel...
Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 4–8 March 2024 Russian grain markets remained bearish against global trends and recent tenders which traded wheat, Russia&rsqu...
Market Commentary: Soy Complex Rally Leads CBOT; Grains Steady while Watching Demand
Palm oil was really the star of Tuesday’s commodity trade as the market rallied on the heels of dry weather threatening Malaysia’s 2024 product...
China’s Veiled Data; Unveiled Livestock Emissions
China’s Veiled Data Some agricultural analysts in the West have noted that Chinese data reporting in the sector can go missing, fail to be consistent...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.4175/bushel, up $0 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.475/bushel, up $0.0025 from yesterday's close. Ma...
More Livestock and Poultry Rules Coming from USDA
On 5 March, WPI reported USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released the second of a series of three new Packers and Stockyards Adminis...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Egypt and the IMF have signed an agreement for $8 billion in financing, i...
Market Commentary: Short Run Bulls Battle Long Run Bears
The CBOT is fighting a battle between improving short run technicals and bearish long run fundamentals, which is apt to keep the market choppy heading into...
Bogus Problem; Radicalism Backlash
Bogus Problem Reinforcing the problem asserted by USDA’s political leadership, the Economic Research Service highlighted Census of Agriculture data s...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.4175/bushel, up $0.02 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.4725/bushel, up $0.095 from yesterday's close. ...
Spring Cattle Outlook
In the March World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, USDA raised beef production by 140 million pounds based on slaughter weight and...
Mercosur Regional Analysis
Corn Argentina’s early corn harvest has begun in various regions of the country with good yields, although it's too early to draw conclusions as the...
WASDE Soybeans
Soybeans: USDA’s March estimate is that U.S. soybean supply and use for 2023/24 is unchanged from February. The U.S. season-average soybean pri...
WASDE Corn
Corn: USDA’s March estimate is that 2023/24 U.S. corn outlook is unchanged from February. The season-average corn price received by producers i...
WASDE Wheat
Wheat: USDA’s March estimate is that U.S. ending stocks are increased 673 million bushels and are 18 percent higher than last year. The season-...
Market Commentary: Interesting Trade Despite Few WASDE Changes
The CBOT posted interesting developments on Friday, even while the March WASDE report failed to offer the same intrigue. The USDA’s latest look at U...
CFTC COT Report Analysis
The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...
Oilseed Highlights: Bulls Amidst the Bears
The Market The trend remains downward for soybeans and yet this week provided a bounce off the bottom. The move reflects some belief that demand is suffici...
Biden Dictates Prices; Dictating Standards; Dictating to Meat
Biden Dictates Prices President Joe Biden tried to position himself in last night’s State of the Union address as the bulwark against the rising tide...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.3975/bushel, up $0.0175 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.3775/bushel, up $0.0925 from yesterday's close.&nb...
SOTU: Renewing the Focus on Carbon, Conservation, and Capital Gains
In his State of the Union (SOTU) address, President Biden outlined a number of policy priorities with potential impacts on agriculture. Many of them are pr...
Market Commentary: Markets Move Ahead of March WASDE
With the exception of SRW, markets generally closed above overnight levels as short-covering progressed ahead of tomorrow’s USDA March WASDE. There w...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.38/bushel, up $0.0925 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.285/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close. ...
Livestock Roundup: Updates and Highlights
SOTU Tonight is President Biden’s third State of the Union (SOTU) address. It will be interesting to watch how far he goes on food inflation. In 2022...
Food Wins; Stating the Obvious
Food Wins Commercial food workers hate fast line speeds at meat processors because it makes them work harder and reduces the required number of workers. An...
Export Sales
Export Sales and Shipments for February 23-29, 2024. Wheat: Net sales of 271,100 metric tons (MT) for 2023/2024 were down 17 percent from the previou...
Market Commentary: Wheat Dumpster Fire Continues; Corn, Soy Complex Stable Before WASDE
The dumpster fire that is the wheat market continued to rage on Wednesday with Paris, CBOT, and KCBT markets all scoring new contract lows. The fundamental...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.2875/bushel, up $0.025 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.31/bushel, down $0.2 from yesterday's close. ...
Katy Bar the Door; Pursuing Food Sovereignty; USMCA Expansion
Katy Bar the Door Malaysia had filed a WTO dispute settlement case against the EU’s Renewable Energy Directive, arguing it is prejudicil in limiting...
Peas Please
As noted in today’s Black Sea report, the price of peas in Russia are rising as exports go unfettered by any export tax. Canada is by far the largest...
Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 26 February–1 March 2024 Russian grain markets remained bearish following the global trend exports are the key driver. For sev...
Market Commentary: South American Rains, Export Competition Push CBOT Lower
The CBOT turned lower on Tuesday with wheat leading the way on new contract lows in Paris wheat and aggressive competition from Ukraine and Russia on the e...
USDA Issues New Livestock and Poultry Contracting Rule
USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released the second of a series of three new Packers and Stockyards Administration marketing rules. Offic...
White House Hypocrisy; Support for Thailand; Green Protectionism; The Real Foe
White House Hypocrisy The economy, and specifically inflation, is one of four top issues dogging President Biden’s reelection campaign and the White...
Cotton is King
At least it is in the U.S. South. While production increased last year in Pakistan and Brazil, USDA predicts that most of the increase in global production...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.2625/bushel, down $0.0375 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.51/bushel, down $0.13 from yesterday's close.&nb...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION The Muslim holy month of Ramadan will begin in the region on 11 or 12 Mar...
Market Commentary: Wheat Rallies on Hail in India; Corn, Soy Turn Higher on Technical Buying
The CBOT was mostly higher to start the week with unexpected hail and rain damage to India’s wheat crop lifting world wheat markets while corn and so...
MC13 Unsurprisingly Disappoints
USTR is spinning that progress was made at the WTO’s ministerial in Abu Dhabi that ended over the weekend, claiming progress on revitalizing the disp...
What is in the Ag Appropriations Bill?
As we reported on Friday, Congress passed and the President signed a short term funding agreement. Moreover, that report advised: Expect a lot of activity...
Hops Market Declines
After a decade of blistering growth, the U.S. domestic beer market declined in 2023. The reasons given include some consumers opting for a healthier, alcoh...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.3/bushel, up $0.0525 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.64/bushel, up $0.0625 from yesterday's close. M...
Mercosur Regional Analysis
Wheat Wheat is going through a challenging time in Argentina. The decline in prices, both in the local and export markets, has been constant over the last...
Market Commentary: Next Week Won’t Be Boring as Wheat, Corn Pull Back and Soybeans Rise
The CBOT was mixed to end the week and start the month of March with livestock futures extending their rallies amid strong fundamentals. Grain trade, howev...
CFTC COT Report Analysis
The attached PDF offers graphical depiction and seasonal analysis of managed money and commercial traders' net position in key agricultural commodity marke...
Oilseed Highlights: A Topsy Turvy Week
The Market It was a topsy turvy week from the standpoint that the trend is down, speculators are betting on lower values, increasing their net short positi...
Policy Quick Hits Updates
Appropriations USDA will be open on Monday 4 March. President Biden signed a short-term, stop-gap continuing resolution (CR) appropriations bill passed by...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.2475/bushel, down $0.0475 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.5775/bushel, down $0.185 from yesterday's close...
Market Commentary: Leap Day was a Small Step
Most futures contracts opened even lower than their respective overnight closing lows. Things began to moderate about an hour into trading with grains and...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.295/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.7625/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close. ...
Livestock Roundup: Reading the Tea Leaves on Cattle Herd Rebuilding
Cattle cycles are measured from low point to low point, which means that the current cycle started in 2014, peaked in 2019, and was ongoing in 2023. &...
Export Sales
Export Sales and Shipments for February 16-22, 2024. Wheat: Net sales of 327,300 metric tons (MT) for 2023/2024 were up 40 percent from the previous...
Market Commentary: Corn Extends Rally; Soybeans, Wheat Continue Consolidation
The CBOT was mixed on Wednesday with corn futures rising and hitting their third straight daily gain while wheat futures pulled back amid weaker global mar...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.285/bushel, up $0.05 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.7475/bushel, down $0.095 from yesterday's close. ...
Europe’s Mantel; Trade-less Trade Advisor
Europe’s Mantel Sans Viande: In three months, France will ban the use of “meat” when referring to meat alternative products. Since profit...
Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 19–23 February 2024 As expected, the Russian grain market remained stable and slightly bearish. Export demand will do the tric...
Market Commentary: Consolidation Continues as CBOT Contemplates Record Fund Short Position
Tuesday’s mood at the CBOT seemed to be one primarily of consolidation and mild short covering. Corn futures extended Monday’s key reversal but...
“Healthy” Food Slows Ag Approps
Last Friday, WPI reported on the status of the appropriations process; Congress has until Friday of this week to pass four appropriations bills, including...
Data versus Rhetoric
Politico reports that President Biden wants to attack the U.S. food industry in his 7 March State of the Union address to Congress. He believes his Super B...
Summary of Futures
May 24 Corn closed at $4.235/bushel, up $0.02 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.8425/bushel, up $0.095 from yesterday's close. ...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Egypt is expected to increase its local wheat purchase price this year du...
Market Commentary: Higher CBOT and Corn Reversal Deny Long-Run Bearish Outlook
The CBOT turned mostly higher to start the week amid some bullish fundamental developments and funds covering shorts after the market’s recent and wi...
Summary of Futures
Mar 24 Corn closed at $4.07/bushel, up $0.0725 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.7475/bushel, up $0.0575 from yesterday's close. ...
Cattle on Feed Report: Placements Higher than Expected
USDA released the monthly Cattle on Feed report on Friday with placements in January, the most difficult category to predict and the only category to diffe...
Mercosur Regional Analysis
Soybeans Market Overview Following the Chinese Lunar New Year holiday, expectations for increased soybean demand from China were not met, resul...
CFTC COT Report Analysis
The weekly CFTC report was unsurprising in that managed money funds were net sellers through Tuesday’s data reporting period, which obviously coincid...
Cattle on Feed
U.S. cattle on feed totaled 11.8 million head on February 1, 2024 - slightly above Feb 1, 2023. Placements in feedlots during January totaled 1.79 million...
Market Commentary: New Lows to Close the Week; COF Placements Surprise to the Upside
The CBOT posted a bearish day to finish a bearish week with corn, soybeans, soyoil, and soymeal all scoring new contract lows amid sustained selling pressu...
Oilseed Highlights: Short-covering and Sucky Export Sales
The Market Nearing two and a half months of selling by speculators, this week marked fresh lows in the soybean sector. Net shorts are approaching the recor...
Summary of Futures
Mar 24 Corn closed at $3.9975/bushel, down $0.0625 from yesterday's close. May 24 Wheat closed at $5.69/bushel, down $0.1025 from yesterday's close.&...
Policy Quick Hits
Appropriations Deadline The initial deadline for avoiding a government shutdown is one week from today, 1 March. By that time, Congress needs to pass...