This is the second in a three-part series of reports from WPI’s analysts in Ukraine. This article involves their opinion of Ukrainian agriculture in...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.565/bushel, down $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.3825/bushel, down $0.07 from yesterday's close.&...

After sharp rallies Monday and Tuesday, traders booked CBOT profits on Wednesday heading into Thursday’s Goldman roll and CONAB report and the USDA A...

Great Power Struggle Deceased U.S. Senator John McCain called Russia a “gas station masquerading as a country” but it is also a major grocery s...

Cultural History April Kicks Off with Annual Qingming Festival or Ancestors’ Day China’s domestic market began the first full week of April on...

Highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) continues to wreak havoc. So far this week (and it is only Wednesday), APHIS announced an outbreak in Texas in a c...

This is the first of a three-part special series of reports from WPI’s analysts in Ukraine. The first installment looks at what the war’s impac...

Russian Grain Markets: 28 March-1 April 2022 Last week the domestic market went bearish. Prices for staple grains plummeted to relatively traditional level...

Yesterday’s Crop Progress report from USDA showing five-year lows in winter wheat conditions ratings put a bid under KCBT and CBOT wheat Tuesday. Com...

NBT Beats GMO As in Europe, genetically modified crops have been controversial in India where only Bt cotton is approved for cultivation. However, scientis...

Borscht is considered comfort food in Russia and the cost to make it is reportedly rising. Bloomberg reports that since the start of the war, the cost of c...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Turkey, Iran, Egypt, Israel, and South Africa are target countries in the...

The CBOT rallied to start the week after news broke out this weekend of Russian shelling and bombardments of Ukrainian grain storage facilities and export...

The Senate Budget Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow entitled “Corporate Profits are Soaring as Prices Rise: Are Corporate Greed and Profiteering...

War and the Food Fight The intra-EU debate over F2F was bubbling under the surface but like lava flowing out of a rupture in the earth’s crust, Russi...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.505/bushel, up $0.155 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.1025/bushel, up $0.2575 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

The U.S. rice industry motivated its politicians to attack USTR Katherine Tai last week as she made the rounds on Capitol Hill. The main point of their ire...

Corn Argentina’s corn harvest continues to progress at a solid pace and has reached almost 15 percent of the planted area. This is slightly below the...

Regional News  Ukraine increased its forecast of area to be sown to spring crops to 13.4 Mha, which would be down 3.5 Mha from 2021. The latest foreca...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.35/bushel, down $0.1375 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $9.845/bushel, down $0.215 from yesterday's close.&nb...

The CBOT capped a volatile week with aggressive bear spreading in corn and sharply lower days in wheat and soybeans. The USDA’s reports from Thursday...

Yesterday, President Biden announced what will be his Administration’s third release of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR) and it will be...

Ukraine Changes Agriculture CoBank analysts say that the war in Ukraine will have long term impact on grain markets. Indeed, if one just considers the foll...

The big news of the week is USDA’s Prospective Plantings report showing farmers plan to sow more acres to soybean than to corn. If that outcome is re...

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

The larger than usual volume across many contracts puts the exclamation point on today’s market action. USDA’s Prospective Plantings and Quarte...

USDA released its quarterly Hogs and Pigs report for December through February. The report was bullish showing contraction across the herd.   Th...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.4875/bushel, up $0.1075 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.06/bushel, down $0.2125 from yesterday's close.&n...

New World Order Challenges posed to the West by both China and Russia has President Biden and geopolitical experts talking about a new world order. There h...

Export Sales for March 18-24, 2022.   Wheat:  Net sales of 95,000 metric tons (MT) for 2021/2022 were down 39 percent from the previous week...

Public Health Coronavirus Lockdown Hits Shanghai, Case Rates Fall With rapid spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant, health authorities in China have impos...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.38/bushel, up $0.1175 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.2725/bushel, up $0.13 from yesterday's close. ...

Vlad-atility is volatility caused when the market places too much value in what Vladimir Putin might be implying. Yesterday’s commodity lows were asp...

Offense is Defense USTR Katherine Tai knew that she would be facing some strong agriculture voices when she appears this week before the House and Senate c...

Regional Update Ukraine: Planting  According to the Ministry of Agriculture, as of 24 March, in 11 regions of Ukraine, spring grains and oilseeds were...

The CBOT saw significant selling pressure and long liquidation after “constructive peace talks” developed between Russia and Ukraine early on T...

USDA’s survey-based Costs and Returns analysis for U.S. crops will not be updated until 2 May 2022, but it already looks like farming is more profita...

The USDA’s quarterly stocks and planting intentions numbers will be released on Thursday. Given the volatile situation globally, drought impacts, and...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.2625/bushel, down $0.2225 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.1425/bushel, down $0.4275 from yesterday's clos...

USTR Sleeps Too Much With hearings before House and Senate trade panels over the next two days, USTR Katherine Tai suddenly says she has “serious con...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Saudi Arabia’s National Grain Co intends to build a new grain termi...

Risk-off ahead of the Grain Stocks and Prospective Plantings reports was the theme du jour. The soy complex and wheat futures led the CBOT lower with corn...

Prop 12 Challenge When the U.S. Congress passed Affordable Care Act (Obamacare) in 2010, the Vice President Joe Biden declared it a “big [expletive]...

The White House unveiled the President’s FY 2023 Budget request today, which is but one step in a long and usually volatile budget debate. The Presid...

The skyrocketing cost of wheat has turned rice into the go-to food grain. It helps that global surplus rice stocks are at a record high. High wheat prices...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.485/bushel, down $0.055 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.57/bushel, down $0.4525 from yesterday's close.&n...

Corn Argentina  The corn harvest had its biggest weekly advance since it started with 3.2 percent of fields harvested last week. That brings the total...

The CBOT finished the week on a mostly higher note with corn, soybeans, and wheat all posting gains on Friday. Trade continues to be choppy and two-sided w...

USDA released its monthly Cattle on Feed report today. The inventory of cattle and calves on feed was 12.2 million, right in line with expectations, and as...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.54/bushel, up $0.0575 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $11.0225/bushel, up $0.165 from yesterday's close. ...

Miracle Economics Leaders in the Biden Administration are taking credit for expanding market access in Japan for U.S. beef. U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom...

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

Production and Incentives Late planted soybeans in Argentina are filling pods and are still too dry. In Brazil, the soybean harvest is 69 percent completed...

It was mostly a turnaround day as risk is priced in as much as desired and there were some bearish indicators: South America is getting moisture and has b...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.4825/bushel, down $0.095 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.8575/bushel, down $0.2 from yesterday's close.&n...

USDA will release its Cattle on Feed report tomorrow and it could be a record – for the second month in a row. Analysts’ pre-report estimates p...

Export Sales for March 11-17, 2022 Wheat:  Net sales of 155,700 metric tons (MT) for 2021/2022 were up 7 percent from the previous week, but down 51 p...

Age of Nuclear The shock to the fossil fuels market coupled with aspirations for a low emissions future has combined to give renewed impetus to nuclear pow...

The CBOT was sharply higher overnight amid wide support from European ag markets and global energy values. The day session, however, saw traders take a mor...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.5775/bushel, up $0.0475 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $11.0575/bushel, down $0.125 from yesterday's close.&...

War Wrecks WTO The WTO was splintered before Russia attacked Ukraine but now progress on key issues is even less likely. The splintering at the UN and betw...

EU leaders are accusing Moscow of deliberately destroying Ukraine’s food production and infrastructure. They charge that Russia has a long history of...

Public Health New COVID-19 Cases and Related Deaths Continue to Rise With shutdowns and movement restrictions in place across major metropolitan areas in C...

Planting Update According to the Ministry of Agriculture, on 22 March the spring planting campaign started in the southern regions of Ukraine. Spring grain...

The CBOT marked another day of choppy, low-liquidity trading with old crop corn and wheat futures moving lower while soyoil and soybeans traded higher. New...

According to reports from Ukraine’s Ministry of Defense intelligence operations, Russia has been purposefully bombing and/or commandeering agricultur...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.53/bushel, down $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $11.1825/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.&n...

The War and Food Policy In a return to the Iraq’s war’s admonishment that you are either with us or against us, U.S. President Joe Biden travel...

If Russia can use nuclear weapons to blackmail the world, China has the surplus food stocks to coerce its national ambitions. Global ending stocks for majo...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Egypt has announced that Abu Dhabi Ports Group will build a multipurpose...

Early morning fund buying pushed the CBOT higher and markets held onto those gains through the day’s trading. The failure of meaningful peace talks t...

Since the beginning of this month, a labor dispute among rail workers in Canada has been looming over the already tight fertilizer market. As of last week,...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.5625/bushel, up $0.145 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $11.1925/bushel, up $0.555 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Musik für die US-Landwirtschaft Russian aggression in eastern Europe has turned EU policy on its head and the latest evidence is German Finance Minist...

U.S. President Joe Biden has frequently attacked the companies processing food products, while lamenting the business struggles of farmers. He has told com...

Regional News  Drought is a growing concern for parts of Europe, especially the southwest countries. The latest crop monitoring report from the EU Com...

Wheat Argentina Argentina’s farmers are showing a lot of concern about next year’s planting season. Argentina imports more than 60 percent of t...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.4175/bushel, down $0.1275 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.6375/bushel, down $0.3425 from yesterday's clos...

The CBOT ended weaker as few traders want to add risk heading into a weekend where unpredictable political and headline risk will be key features. The mark...

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

War Changes Everything A month ago, the focus in Europe was greening agriculture and stopping climate change but the war has reversed the course in Brussel...

Another week of war in Ukraine and another week of dramatic impacts in the global oilseeds market. Not as dramatic as the wheat and corn market, but policy...

The House Ag Committee held a hearing yesterday, “A 2022 Review of the Farm Bill: The Role of USDA Programs in Addressing Climate Change.” As w...

The see-sawing this week over the war reflects the folly of buying the rumor. Hopes that Vladimir Putin will end the war ended after he said he would conti...

The cattle herd looks to be in for some more contraction. February cow slaughter was up 12.2 percent over last year – though February 2022 was down 9...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.545/bushel, up $0.245 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.98/bushel, up $0.2875 from yesterday's close. ...

Export Sales for March 4-10, 2022   Wheat:  Net sales of 145,900 metric tons (MT) for 2021/2022 were down 53 percent from the previous week...

Front Door Attack The recently enacted omnibus spending bill included $2.5 million to support a “White House Conference on Food, Nutrition, Hunger an...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.3/bushel, down $0.28 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.6925/bushel, down $0.85 from yesterday's close. ...

Rumors and statements from Russia and Ukraine regarding a possible ceasefire agreement pressured CBOT markets Wednesday while sending U.S. stocks sharply h...

IPEF Sloganeering Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Sarah Bianchi is in Australia this week, reportedly to pitch the Biden Administration’s vision for...

The first of a projected seven interest rate hikes was announced today by the U.S. Federal Reserve. In contradiction with the Biden White House, the Fed sa...

Public Health  COVID-19 Returns with a Vengeance Similar to its quasi-island province to the south, mainland China’s effort to control the impac...

Editor's Note: Despite the war going on all around them, this update is provided by WPI’s consultants in Kyiv. We know that Ana and her new baby have...

Corn and wheat futures settled higher Tuesday with influence from the ongoing war in Ukraine, poor U.S. winter wheat ratings, and falling crude oil prices...

U.S. lamb and mutton exports were up 38 percent in January, but the market is still nothing to write home about. U.S. exports are swamped by the level of i...

Last week’s WASDE raised the forecast for beef export. A large reason was Korea, so far the top export destination for U.S. beef. Indeed, today is th...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.58/bushel, up $0.0975 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $11.5425/bushel, up $0.58 from yesterday's close. ...

Value of Grain The loss of corn exports from Ukraine is revealing the value of technology biases. While the EU is rich and chose to loosen pesticide standa...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Ramadan is expected to begin on 2 April and end 1 May with the holiday of...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.4825/bushel, down $0.1425 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.9625/bushel, down $0.1025 from yesterday's clos...

The CBOT ended on a mixed note to start the week as policy developments drove much of the day’s price action. News that Argentina is suspending soy p...

As the debate on next year’s farm bill gets underway, commodity groups are considering what role the cost of production should play in crop programs...

The UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization prepared a slideshow for the G7 agriculture ministers that shows more food inflation even under the most o...

Regional News  Interfax reports that Russia is considering a full ban on the export of wheat, barley, maize, and rye starting Tuesday, 15 March that w...

Reckoning Amongst “Friends” U.S. and Chinese officials met in Rome today and the unmistakable message from Washington is that Beijing will pay...

Regional Updates Argentina’s Rumored Corn and Wheat Taxes Rumors of an increase in wheat and corn export taxes appeared in Argentina this week. There...

After a wild week, the final trading session featured lower volume and measured moves. The result of the five days of trading included small gains for corn...

Yesterday, the Senate passed an omnibus funding bill to keep the government open through the end of the fiscal year. It cleared the Senate 68-31 and on Wed...

Hot Markets, Precious Land Before Russia invaded Ukraine and sent agricultural commodity markets reeling, the focus was on improving farming’s contri...

This week’s USDA WASDE report was a blip on the screen compared with the intense focus and disruption of Russia warring on Ukraine. Due to the scale...

While wheat gave back another big chunk of its recent days’ gains, soybeans and corn kept the rally going. However, volume was muted, except in the S...

War is Global PR Battle The Russian war on Ukraine is a global PR battle and Western media has the advantage. While Vladimir Putin has monopoly control, hi...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.5575/bushel, up $0.2275 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.87/bushel, down $1.145 from yesterday's close.&nb...

This week, the FDA’s Center for Veterinary Medicine (CVM) approved, or more accurately declared, a “low risk determination” for heat tole...

Export Sales for February 25-March 3, 2022.   Wheat:  Net sales of 307,200 metric tons (MT) for 2021/2022 were up 2 percent from the previou...

Soybean oil: price is raised 2 cents to 68.0 cents per pound...

Soybean meal: price is forecast at $420 per short ton, up 10 dollars...

Soybeans: USDA decreased U.S. 2021/22 ending stocks by 40 million bushels.  Soybean and product prices are all raised this month.  The U.S. seaso...

Corn: USDA decreased U.S. 2021/22 ending stocks by 100 million bushels. Corn used for ethanol is raised 25 million bushels to 5.350 billion and exports are...

Wheat: USDA increased U.S. 2021/22 ending stocks by 5 million bushels to 653 million but are still 23 percent lower than last year.  The season-averag...

Volatility was once again on display at the CBOT Wednesday, with wheat futures locking limit-down before the USDA’s March WASDE was released and soyo...

Macroeconomics Food Prices Fall by Nearly 4 Percent With pork prices continuing to tumble, the average cost of food in China dropped by 3.9 percent in Febr...

Future Foretold The University of Chicago’s Booth School of Business surveyed almost 50 top economists from the leading American universities for a f...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.33/bushel, down $0.2 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $12.015/bushel, down $0.85 from yesterday's close. ...

Ukraine has announced an export stoppage for various agricultural commodities, including for oats, and Russia said it would restrict exports to certain mar...

The CBOT traded a mixed day with wheat once again the market’s focus. Wheat futures opened sharply lower as the short-covering rally ended and the ma...

On Friday we covered the chances of sanctions on imported Russian oil (and referred to it yesterday). Here are five key points from Friday’s report t...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.53/bushel, up $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  Jul 22 Wheat closed at $11.9525/bushel, down $0.5725 from yesterday's close.&n...

Lacking Intellect The West has shown Russia how dependent it is on the capitalist financial system by imposing a wide range of sanctions. Russia is now str...

Analyses about the Russian war on Ukraine have tended to focus on the displacement of agricultural commodity sales and input shortfalls. However, the Biden...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Ukraine grain shipments may still be possible even with the main export p...

The war in Ukraine, which has found Russia increasingly desperate and increasingly targeting civilians as the Ukrainian resistance stalls progress, continu...

West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil futures hit $130.50/barrel Sunday night, while Brent crude reached a high of $139.13/barrel in overnight trading. T...

CBAM Compromise Until Russia’s Vladimir Putin decided to unite the West against him, the transatlantic policy fractures ran deep and wide. There was...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.5075/bushel, down $0.035 from yesterday's close.  Jul 22 Wheat closed at $12.525/bushel, up $0.7725 from yesterday's close.&n...

Western countries kicked Russia out of the WTO’s Developed Countries Coordinating Group and are seeking to remove normal trade relations with Moscow...

Wheat Finally, the Argentine government officially announced the wheat trust it has been developing. The trust’s aim is to maintain control of the lo...

Regional News  Russia’s ongoing attempt to take over Ukraine continues to drive Black Sea, European, and global grain markets. Ukraine’s e...

The wheat craziness continued overnight with May, July, and Sept CBOT and May, July, Sept, Dec, and Mar 2023 KCBT all locked limit-up after the overnight s...

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

May 22 Corn closed at $7.5425/bushel, up $0.065 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $12.09/bushel, up $0.75 from yesterday's close. ...

Oil Policy Change President Biden’s White House is getting pressured to stop imports of Russian oil, and to increase drilling for domestic oil. Criti...

As is typical when there is a crisis – from foreign policy issues, to the China trade situation, to animal disease, to COVID, and more – the ma...

Before we get to the 800-pound bear (war), let’s cover some market basics. This would be an extraordinary market situation even without facing down a...

WPI has reported market data and analysis from Ukraine (and Russia) since 2005. We have accomplished this through our consultants in the region. If you&rsq...

The war in Ukraine continues to push commodity futures higher and today was not the end in that trend. The market is scrambling to replace the wheat and su...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.4775/bushel, up $0.2275 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $11.34/bushel, up $0.75 from yesterday's close. ...

The Russian invasion into Ukraine now enters its second week; general expectations were that the whole conflict would be short-lived, but Ukraine has prove...

New Old China Strategy USTR’s annual trade policy report called for a new approach to China and the Wall Street Journal reports today that involves a...

Export Sales for February 18-24, 2022.     Wheat:  Net sales of 300,000 metric tons (MT) for2021/2022 were down 42 percent from the pre...

The CBOT continued its bullish panic buying overnight and wheat futures hit their expanded 75-cent daily price limit amid aggressive short covering. The mo...

The price of wheat went limit-up yet again today, which is problematic for poor countries importing the food stuff. It is particularly painful for Egypt si...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.25/bushel, down $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $10.59/bushel, up $0.75 from yesterday's close. ...

Flunking Economics The critiques of President Biden’s State of the Union speech last night reflect the biases of the authors, and WPI admits its narr...

Livestock Major Hog Company Facing Potential Bankruptcy The news of the day in China, outside of the war in Ukraine, pertains to market rumors that Zhengba...

Ukrainian forces continue to stymie the Russian attack, prompting Russia to intensify its efforts in Kharkov and Kiev. Russia warned that attacks on civili...

Diverse Trade Policy USTR’s Annual Trade Policy Review called for a change in policy toward China, though it provided no details. USTR Katherine Tai...

President Biden announced plans to release 30 million barrels of oil from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve (SPR). Other countries who are members of the Int...

May 22 Corn closed at $7.2575/bushel, up $0.35 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $9.84/bushel, up $0.5 from yesterday's close.  May...

While the price of Brent crude is up 12 percent since Friday, fertilizer has increased 33 percent. Fertilizer values are priced to energy but now seem to b...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Turkish officials have said that the Ukraine/Russia situation will not re...

May 22 Corn closed at $6.9075/bushel, up $0.35 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $9.34/bushel, up $0.7425 from yesterday's close. ...

The weekend moves by Western governments to remove Russia from the SWIFT international payment system have effectively ended grain trade from the Black Sea...

The House Agriculture Committee will hold a hearing tomorrow reviewing commodity groups’ perspectives on Title I crop programs. Scheduled to testify...

Thinking the Worst Maritime and natural resource security firm I.R. Consilium thinks Russia’s war intents could get worse and use food as a weapon. W...

Effects of Russia’s Invasion The war between Russia and Ukraine is beginning to affect Argentina’s spot market and WPI looks for these impacts...

While Russia had amassed $630 billion in foreign exchange reserves, its removal from SWIFT, the freezing of its overseas assets, and sanctions on its banks...

Regional News  Grain shipments from Ukraine have been suspended (and, at this point, seem likely to remain so for at least a month) while shipments fr...

The CBOT ended a volatile week with an exceptionally volatile day that included wheat settling 75 cents lower at the bottom of its expanded daily trading l...

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

May 22 Corn closed at $6.5575/bushel, down $0.345 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $8.5975/bushel, down $0.75 from yesterday's close.&n...

Export Sales for February 11-17, 2022    Wheat:  Net sales of 516,900 metric tons (MT) for2021/2022 were up noticeably from the previous wee...

Western leaders have chosen not to inconvenience their citizens over simple Russian aggression. Vladimir Putin has now threatened the use of nuclear weapon...

USDA released its monthly Cattle on Feed report today; the inventory of cattle and calves on feed was 12.2 million, right in line with expectations, and as...

War Disruption Focusing first on the Bear in the Ukrainian living room, palm and soyoil prices have hit record levels on concern that sunflower seed may lo...

Markets opened big like the overnight but then, outside of wheat, it somewhat corrected itself, in part due to profit-taking. It was a volatile day with ne...

Mar 22 Corn closed at $6.95/bushel, up $0.1125 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $9.3475/bushel, up $0.5 from yesterday's close.  M...

USDA will release its Cattle on Feed report tomorrow and it could be a record. Analysts’ pre-report estimates peg the total number of cattle on feed...

Getting Away with It The threats of sanctions did not deter Vladimir Putin’s invasion of Ukraine and there is no reason to believe their implementati...

The CBOT rallied sharply again on Wednesday as tensions continue to escalate in Ukraine. Moreover, weather forecasts show little improvement for Brazil, Ar...

Mar 22 Corn closed at $6.8375/bushel, up $0.09 from yesterday's close.  May 22 Wheat closed at $8.8475/bushel, up $0.3225 from yesterday's close. ...

Deforestation Policy Europe’s effort to end deforestation has focused on blocking imported products from areas that have more recently undergone defo...

Even without the Nord Stream 2 pipeline, Germany is dependent upon Russia for 50 percent of its energy supplies. This is not the case for the U.S. Although...

Livestock Oversupply Remains, Piglet Prices Plunge The Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs' (MARA) latest data release shows the domestic live piglet...

Russian Grain Markets: 14-18 February 2022 There was a lull in the domestic market with insignificant decreases in RUB for all grains. Russian ruble weaken...

The CBOT jumped higher overnight after news broke Monday afternoon that Russian President Putin announced he would recognize the independence of two separa...

January 2022 total red meat and poultry stocks were up from December but remained down 6.6 percent from January 2021 and at another five-year low for the m...

More to Come Russian President Vladimir Putin said he would not invade Ukraine and there was a whole dialogue around the meaning of invasion versus incursi...

The Senate Agriculture Committee held a hearing on 9 February, “Examining Digital Assets: Risks, Regulation, and Innovation.” It is easy to get...

The repeated threat of sanctions by the EU and U.S. were not enough to prevent Vladimir Putin from moving on Ukraine, and they likely will not be enough to...

Mar 22 Corn closed at $6.7475/bushel, up $0.205 from yesterday's close.  Mar 22 Wheat closed at $8.4425/bushel, up $0.4725 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Morocco’s soft wheat subsidies are expected to reach $410 million i...

The CBOT/CME will be closed on Monday, 21 February 2022 for the U.S. President’s Day holiday. WPI will not issue an Ag Perspectives report on Monday...

The CBOT was higher to end the week with short covering and modest fund buying occurring ahead of the three-day weekend. Trading was generally slow, and vo...

Congress will be in recess next week for the President’s Day holiday and in-district work time. They will return on 1 March, which leaves 10 days to...

Interstate Trade War Georgetown University Professor Marc L. Busch notes that the trade agreement between Canada and the U.S. forced Canada to liberalize t...

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

It has been another week of solid gains in the oilseeds world. More analysts are tantalizing farmers with the prospect of record soybean prices. Beans in t...

Mar 22 Corn closed at $6.5425/bushel, up $0.0425 from yesterday's close.  Mar 22 Wheat closed at $7.97/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close. ...

Mar 22 Corn closed at $6.5/bushel, up $0.03 from yesterday's close.  Mar 22 Wheat closed at $7.98/bushel, up $0.175 from yesterday's close.  Mar...

The markets are relatively stable, but the trade is sputtering as they assess current valuations amidst such uncertainty. The stability and uncertainty res...

Last week, we noted an outbreak of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a turkey flock in Indiana. Approximately 29,000 birds were euthanized. Poult...

Trade Policy Confusion In its annual report to Congress yesterday on trade relations with China, USTR asserted that, “China has a poor record when it...

Macroeconomics Food Prices Fall Year-on-Year in January by Nearly 4 Percent In another sign that China’s domestic economy is seeing further contracti...

Export Sales for February 4-10, 2022.  Wheat:  Net sales of 118,100 metric tons (MT) for 2021/2022 were up 39 percent from the previous week, but...

After yesterday’s news that Russia moved as many as 10,000 troops away from the Ukrainian border in Belarus, NATO commanders refuted it, saying they...

Mar 22 Corn closed at $6.47/bushel, up $0.09 from yesterday's close.  Mar 22 Wheat closed at $7.805/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  M...

Russian Grain Markets: 7-11 February 2022 Wheat prices on the Russian domestic market continued to decrease (except for Siberia), while feed barley and cor...

Money Talks The Conference Board notes that it has been a record year for shareholder proposals involving environmental and social initiatives. However, th...

Inflation is hitting agriculture hard. The cost of inputs like seed, fertilizer, and chemicals are rising much faster than core inflation. Because corn is...

Russia’s announcement that it will move 10,000 troops from Belarus back to Russia was viewed as a positive development in the Black Sea standoff. Mar...

According to beef grading data released by USDA, the percent of beef grading Choice and Prime hit record highs in the first weeks of 2022. Specifically, fo...

Irking Beijing Taiwan is working hard to beat China to membership in the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP)...

The U.S. government shut down avocado imports from Mexico’s Michoacán state after a federal inspector received presumably a threatening phone...

Mar 22 Corn closed at $6.38/bushel, down $0.1775 from yesterday's close.  Mar 22 Wheat closed at $7.7975/bushel, down $0.195 from yesterday's close.&n...

Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION MEA region grain importers are very concerned over shipments of grain/oil...

The CBOT traded mostly lower for the day in low-volume, but corn and wheat rallied at the day’s end to post small gains. The soy complex remained und...

As we wrote just over one year ago, on 1 February 2021, … the general trend of fuel policy is clearly shifting the struggle from how much of the tan...

The announcement of an HPAI outbreak in a flock of turkeys in Indiana raised fears amongst the U.S. poultry industry. Still fresh in mind is the outbreak d...

Mar 22 Corn closed at $6.5575/bushel, up $0.0475 from yesterday's close.  Mar 22 Wheat closed at $7.9925/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Black Sea Ruse Global grain markets are said to be spiking higher on the prospect of a Russian invasion of Ukraine. After all, these two countries supply a...

Corn Argentina’s corn planting is finally concluded with a total of 7.3 Mha planted. The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange, which had been estimating an ex...

Regional News  French traders continue to express concern about losing wheat market share with Algeria and now China increasingly relying on Russian w...

The CBOT was heavily influenced by outside markets on Friday, especially the crude oil rally stemming from Biden administration comments about a looming Ru...

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

As of early February, U.S. farmers are facing decade high fertilizer prices going into the spring planting season. Moreover, the overall fertilizer price i...

Mar 22 Corn closed at $6.51/bushel, up $0.0925 from yesterday's close.  Mar 22 Wheat closed at $7.9775/bushel, up $0.2625 from yesterday's close. ...

Meat of the Matter China’s five-year plan calls for an 11.5 percent increase in meat production by 2025. Others wonder why bother? The current HPAI o...

South America While USDA cakewalked its estimates this week for South American soybean production, Conab made the deep cut, predicting that Brazil’s...

Livestock Hog Futures from May Onward Trend Upwards as Market Reopens Prior to the start of the Lunar New Year holiday, live hog futures on the Dalian Comm...

In one of the more bizarre trading sessions of late, new contract highs were scored in corn, soybeans, soymeal, cattle, and hogs, and yet only soyoil ended...

The effort in Europe to label food for multiple societal purposes will eventually find its way to U.S. so policymakers in Washington should pay attention.&...

Mar 22 Corn closed at $6.4175/bushel, down $0.05 from yesterday's close.  Mar 22 Wheat closed at $7.715/bushel, down $0.135 from yesterday's close.&nb...

The beef production forecast was up over last month based on the large number of cattle on feed. Specifically, December placements were the highest on reco...

Wheat:  Net sales of 84,800 metric tons (MT) for 2021/2022 were up 48 percent from the previous week, but down 75 percent from the prior 4-week averag...

Soyoil: Soybean oil price forecast is raised 1 cent to 66.0 cents per pound...

Soymeal: increased U.S. soybean crush is forecast at 2.215 billion bushels, up 25 million from last month on favorable crush margins and improving prospect...

Soybeans: USDA forecast domestic crush up 25 million bushels and soybean exports unchanged.  The result is domestic ending stocks are reduced 25 milli...

Corn:  2021/22 U.S. corn supply and use are unchanged relative to last month.  The season-average farm price remains at $5.45 per bushel. USDA re...