Trade Compensation Legs The Trump administration has approved a second tranche of trade mitigation payments to U.S. farmers and asserts that it is the fina...

Escalating Drought in Paraguay and Brazil Over the past few months, the soybean market has understandably been dominated by the U.S-China trade dispute. Ho...

With the Christmas and New Year holidays looming, this is the last full week for trading of grain and soy futures markets in 2018. Following early closures...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.855/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.3275/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Corn and soybean futures were higher while wheat market dropped lower in unenthusiastic trade. Wheat has a bullish technical story, however, and could see...

Congress faces a midnight Friday deadline to pass an omnibus spending bill that funds seven agencies in the federal government, including USDA. Any governm...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Morocco has reportedly reduced the import tariff on grains from Russia to zero, although it has not bee...

Beans versus Cows This week EU agriculture commissioners are considering the policy proposals for replacing imported oilseeds with newly incentivized, dome...

World crop production slipped in 2018 from the record levels reached in the previous five years, which masked the fact that world consumption also set reco...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.84/bushel, down $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.3525/bushel, up $0.0525 from yesterday's close.&nb...

Wheat, corn and soybean markets started higher Sunday night, and they held those small gains throughout the entire session. The relatively light volume the...

Soybeans Market Overview The soybeans market was surprised last week when the U.S. government announced that 1.4 MMT of soybeans had been sold to China. Th...

Corn options traders remain bullish even after two weeks of sideways trading. While the market is likely to need fulfillment of the 3 December chart gap be...

Organizing of the Democratic caucuses in the Senate and House is taking shape for the 116th Congress as the slates of committee chairmen for the House and...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market is firmer as stocks are decreasing. Russia has already exported 21 MMT since the start of the campaign, and those stocks...

The final conference report farm bill, which is now on the president’s desk awaiting signature, totals $428 billion for its 2019-2023 authorization p...

SPS Minus Minus U.S. agriculture groups responded to a U.S. request for comments on what should be the objectives in negotiating a transatlantic trade agre...

Corn was higher with soybeans up slightly and wheat mixed in the Thursday night session. Trading volume was fairly strong overnight. This morning USDA anno...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8475/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.3/bushel, down $0.06 from yesterday's close. ...

USDA trimmed the U.S. wheat export forecast by 25 million bushels (680,000 MT) in the December WASDE (supply & demand), but that wasn’t a surpris...

China Purchases U.S. Soybeans China has followed through on its commitment to President Trump with a purchase of U.S. soybeans. Yesterday USDA announced th...

Vegetable Oil Imports Decline India’s vegetable oil imports totaled 1.073 MMT last month, a drop of 10.1 percent from 1.174 MMT in October and down 1...

Overnight futures trade featured stronger wheat prices, lower soybean prices and corn near unchanged with only average volume. The soybean market seemed to...

Unveiling Good and Bad Members of the European Parliament voted 427–172 to obligate the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) to publish all relevant...

Smaller-than-expected Chinese soybean purchases (real purchases, nonetheless!) sent the soybean market lower this morning which pressured hog futures as we...

The Chinese are back! After days of rumors, USDA/ FAS confirmed China’s return to the U.S. soybean market by reporting its purchase of 1.13 MMT for 2...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8425/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.36/bushel, up $0.095 from yesterday's close. ...

Farm Bill Animal Disease Measures The House of Representatives passed the final conference report on the 2018 Farm Bill yesterday (397-46), which followed...

• Wheat:  Net sales of 754,100 metric tons for 2018/2019 were up 6 percent from the previous week and 62 percent from the prior 4-week average. &...

It is hard to keep track of the rumors flying around concerning Chinese plans to buy U.S. soybeans. Their most common thread has China buying 5-8 MMT, alth...

Tale of Trade Restrictions’ Tail China came into the U.S. market today for soybeans, but American farmers now realize they need to diversify their ma...

Russian Grain Markets: 3-7 December 2018 Active demand drove domestic grain prices higher except for corn, which had a slight decline in the South. The ave...

The biggest news today was a report that Chinese state-owned enterprises purchased nearly 2 MMT of soybeans from the U.S. Early reports said 12 cargos (0.5...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8525/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.265/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close. ...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Contracts Again with Modest Decrease Fluctuating demand at the regional level due to the varying impacts of African swine fever...

It has been more than 10 days since the Trump-Xi meeting in Buenos Aires wherein, according to President Trump and others in attendance, China agreed to pu...

Transatlantic Angst The American side accuses Brussels of delaying tactics in the negotiations and insists that agriculture is an agreed part of the effort...

The farm bill conference report was signed by the conferees last night and the text released. It is being touted as a “bipartisan” bill despite...

USDA notes the following: Total U.S. oilseed production for 2018/19 is forecast at 135.5 million tons, up slightly due to an increase for cottonseed...

USDA notes the following: Global 2018/19 oilseed production is forecast up 0.9 million tons to 600.5 million, with greater soybean production for Brazil an...

USDA notes the following about soybeans: Soybean supply and use projections for 2018/19 are unchanged from last month. With soybean exports and crush uncha...

China Apparently Deciding How Many U.S. Soybean to Import At their meeting in Buenos Aires, President Trump was able to get a commitment from President Xi...

USDA notes the following about Coarse Grains: This month’s 2018/19 U.S. corn outlook is for lower corn used for ethanol, reduced imports, and larger...

The December WASDE was unsurprisingly unsurprising. USDA literally changed nothing in the U.S. 2018/19 soybean balance sheet and made only modest adjustmen...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8475/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.21/bushel, down $0.0425 from yesterday's close.&nb...

In truth, there is not much to analyze in USDA’s December WASDE. It contained no changes in estimated U.S. yields or corn and soybean production leve...

USDA notes the following about wheat: The outlook for 2018/19 U.S. wheat this month is for unchanged supplies, lower exports, and higher ending stocks. Whe...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Middle East/North Africa (MENA) buyers of Ukraine’s wheat and corn are very concerned about the s...

Lighthizer Prevails U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) Robert Lighthizer is one of four prominent names mentioned to become the next White House chief of sta...

The final draft of the 2018 Farm Bill conference agreement is likely to be released tomorrow, and a final vote could take place as soon as Wednesday (12 De...

USDA will release its December WASDE (supply and demand) estimates tomorrow for both the U.S. and the world. That wouldn’t be evident if only reading...

Following last week’s jump higher in corn, soybean, and wheat futures prices, the corn and soybean options markets continue to look for bullish price...

It was a quiet Sunday night opening with markets all slightly lower. Trading volume was also average or less both last night and today. The only difference...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.84/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.2525/bushel, down $0.06 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Soybeans Market Overview Last week was another that featured weaker Brazilian basis pushing levels lower with each passing day. The Chinese are waiting for...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was slightly firmer last week on slower farmer selling. Domestic prices in Russia were about $1-2MT higher, and the expo...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.855/bushel, up $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.3125/bushel, up $0.1575 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Immoderate Nutrition In 2010 the Obama administration sought to make the school lunch program comport with the government’s own nutrition guidelines...

The extremely wild gyrations in U.S. equity markets are a good indication that no one knows where the U.S./China trade dispute is headed as well as a sign...

It looks like the Senate Democrats have avoided a game of “musical chairs” for the ranking minority member spots on the Senate Agriculture Comm...

Cheap Turkish flour, which has plagued much of the world for the last decade, has found its way into the Caribbean. Haiti has been targeted, and the p...

India Oil Meal Exports Up  Oil meal exports of 2.043 MMT for April-November were almost 10 percent higher versus 1.855 MMT for the same period last ye...

• Wheat:  Net sales of 711,800 metric tons for 2018/2019 were up 89 percent from the previous week and 58 percent from the prior 4-week average.&...

The arrest in Vancouver, Canada of Meng Wanzhou, a high-ranking executive of giant Chinese cellular technology company Huawei, and her pending extradition...

Seeing a Rising Sun U.S. business groups have submitted to the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) their wish list for a bilateral trade agreement with Japan...

U.S. Not Positioned to Export Many Soybeans to China Soon Canada’s arrest of Chinese tech giant Huawei’s CFO at the request of the U.S. has fur...

Global Situation Tomorrow USDA will release its updated monthly trade data through October. A running tally of the value to date tells the story of the glo...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8275/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.155/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.&n...

Every country in the world has a trade policy pertaining to whatever it imports or exports. The policy may be explicitly touted by its government or develo...

Ag markets and the U.S. energy/equity complex were all lower today with a fresh round of geopolitical concerns and no further clarification on the U.S.-Chi...

The overnight grain and soy futures session was quiet. Prices for soybeans, wheat and corn were a bit weaker with wheat being the softest. Basically, trade...

Shifting NAFTA Implications Trade consultant Dan Pearson notes that the USITC’s analysis (see Gambling Everything; 03 December) of the USMCA could in...

Russian Federation blocking Kerch Strait: Impacts on Foreign Trade, Political and Economic Outlook After 10 days of Russian blockage of the Kerch Strait in...

Trading was muted today with U.S. equity markets and the Federal government closed in remembrance of former President George H. W. Bush. The CME’s ag...

Policy Developments Trump Administration’s Premature Celebration Following a two-hour dinner with President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Argentin...

The U.S. government will be closed 5 December to honor the late George H.W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States. Release of the government’...

Trump’s Chicken Contradiction The U.S. Supreme Court asked the Trump administration for its position on a lawsuit by 12 states challenging California...

In terms of publicity, the biggest news coming out of the G-20 summit in Buenos Aires late last week had nothing to do with that gathering. Instead, it con...

U.S.-China Trade Truce’s Impact on Soybeans Far from Clear Now that there is a 90-day trade truce between the U.S. and China, the U.S. and South Amer...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.8475/bushel, up $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.225/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

The yield curve on Treasury bonds inverted during overnight trading, the first time this has occurred since 2007. The spread between three-year and five-ye...

Excitement over the weekend’s meetings between Trump and Xi cooled off in most markets today. Ag commodities survived better than others (see U.S. eq...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Grain importers in the Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region are concerned that Russia’s actions...

Soybeans Market Overview The market was basically at a standstill last week as traders awaited the outcome of the Trump-Xi meeting. No one expected big cha...

Amid the news of an agreement to restart China-U.S. trade talks, China’s undefined promise to buy more U.S. commodities and the anticipation as well...

China-U.S. Nothingburger If the written agreement between the EU’s Jean-Claude Juncker and Donald Trump in July offered U.S. agriculture very little,...

The markets expected an explosive Sunday night market following the great news about the Saturday meeting between Presidents Trump and Xi that has led to a...

As would be expected, the options market reacted to the weekend’s trade war news by increasing its bullish outlook for corn, soybeans, and wheat. The...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.82/bushel, up $0.0425 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.2125/bushel, up $0.055 from yesterday's close. ...

It turns out that the Saturday night dinner in Argentina between Presidents Trump and Xi met or exceeded most expectations, although to what degree depends...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week. The conflict in the Azov Sea did not significantly impact prices despite the loading...

Business and politics are not too different in that change is constant and adaptation is essential to survival. When commodity prices increase, the sector...

There were many impactful (and potentially impactful) policy developments that unfolded this week. Biofuel Required Volume Obligations (RVOs) - The EPA rel...

Soybeans and corn were all slightly higher overnight, led by 5-6 cent gains in soybeans. Markets opened stronger than that this morning and stayed that way...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7775/bushel, up $0.045 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.1575/bushel, up $0.08 from yesterday's close. ...

All market analysis should probably be put on hold until sometime Saturday night after the tweets start to flow from Argentina following the serving of des...

Corn Prices Continue to Rise; Imports Required In the past 15 days, prices in the key corn production/consumption hubs have risen 6.7-9.6 percent and are 2...

Grain and soy prices were mostly lower overnight, although not greatly so considering the general strength across the board yesterday. The day session was...

Gilets Jaunes sont les Électeurs Trump The yellow vest movement in France has been a surprise to the French establishment, but to some degree it ref...

As trading of agricultural crop futures contracts evolved in the 19th century at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), there were futures markets for wheat, c...

Holiday Season Starts Strong With a pipeline full of protein, seasonal holiday demand started strong with Thanksgiving. As of 31 October, cold storage stoc...

Mar 19 Corn closed at $3.7325/bushel, up $0 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.0775/bushel, down $0.0375 from yesterday's close. ...

New Hope for Trump-Xi Trade Deal in Buenos Aires President Trump departed today for Buenos Aires to attend the G-20 summit and meet with Chinese President...

Funds appeared to have covered what they want to of their short positions in the grains complex, which left corn, soybeans and wheat to drift lower into th...

WPI's monthly publication features analyses of U.S. agribusiness, the U.S. soybean crushing complex, the U.S. meat and livestock industry, the global outlo...

USDA reports: Wheat: Net sales of 377,100 metric tons for 2018/2019 were up 14 percent from the previous week, but down 25 percent from the prior 4-week a...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Sees Modest Decline Since the first full week of November, China’s nationwide soymeal inventory is up 25,500 MT as demand...

Soy and soy product futures prices were mostly firmer overnight as the market built on yesterday’s turnaround rally. Corn and wheat prices stayed nea...

China Assault Team More than 150 American companies and trade associations signed a letter calling on President Trump to reach an agreement this weekend wi...

Recent Developments in Ukraine Approximately 5 percent of the total grain exported from Ukraine is shipped from Mariupol and Berdiansk seaports in the Azov...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.605/bushel, up $0.04 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.115/bushel, up $0.05 from yesterday's close.  Ja...

The Closing Bell Wrap-Up may look slightly different today since it is coming to you from 30,000 feet while traveling to Reno, NV for the California Cattle...

Yesterday’s tough-talking rhetoric from President Trump, in which he said he planned to go ahead with additional tariffs on Chinese imports, was appa...

Trade War Calculations The market remains uncertain about the potential outcome from this coming weekend’s meeting between the leaders of China and t...

The news last Friday was dominated by the administration’s National Climate Assessment, a congressionally-mandated document and the fourth of its kin...

It is G-20 week in Buenos Aires, and the highly-anticipated side meeting between U.S. President Trump and Chinese President Xi slated for 30 November is ce...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.565/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.065/bushel, down $0.075 from yesterday's close. ...

The Closing Bell Wrap-Up is back from vacation, though it was actually a two-week period of focusing on WPI’s product lines and looking to the future...

Will Trump-Xi Meeting at G-20 Yield a Trade Agreement? Presidents Trump and Xi will meet on Saturday in Buenos Aires following the G-20 summit there. They...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Iran’s SLAL did not buy any barley in its 200,000 MT tender last week. While some say that financ...

The Senate is back in session today, and the House returns tomorrow. Congress will deal with unfinished legislative matters, but the administration also ha...

No Solution at G-20 Many are hoping that a meeting between Chinese President Xi Jinping and U.S. President Donald Trump at the end of this week at the G-20...

The wheat market can’t break out of its narrow trading range of three months despite some positive world wheat fundamentals. The problem is that the...

Soybeans Market Overview The soybean market remains very slow and almost at a standstill. China has been quiet these past few weeks, possibly even slower l...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.56/bushel, down $0.03 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.14/bushel, up $0.0675 from yesterday's close. ...

January SRW wheat and March corn options are pointing to increasingly bullish times ahead while soybean options traders move their chips to the bearish sid...

Markets opened Sunday evening with wheat 3-4 cents higher, corn up a penny and soybeans a penny lower. Overnight volume was much better than last week. Mar...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was slightly weaker last week. While Russia’s wheat stocks were reported to be 25 percent lower than on the same d...

Fake Solutions The EU’s 2017 report on intellectual property rights and customs enforcement finds that food products comprised nearly a quarter of th...

Wheat:  Net sales of 330,400 metric tons for 2018/2019 were down 25 percent from the previous week and 38 percent from the prior 4-week average. ...

A pair of Republican lawmakers in the House of Representatives used the day before Thanksgiving to release a new proposal for Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.59/bushel, down $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Mar 19 Wheat closed at $5.0725/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

The Thanksgiving holiday week closed with a day of very light trading volume and little interest in the markets. Following are a few news items from this w...

Trading volume in all markets was extremely light today, which is not surprising as it was a holiday-shortened session. This is also Black Friday, and ther...

Sensitive Sugar Situation in India India has so far contracted to export approximately 1 MMT of sugar against the government’s fixed target of 5 MMT...

There will be no Ag Perspectives report on Thursday (22 November) in observance of the Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. WPI wishes all a wonderfu...

Russian Grain Markets: 12-16 November 2018 Prices on the domestic market moved in different directions. Meanwhile, the average milling wheat export price d...

U.S. trading offices were likely only half-staffed today and possibly less than that. It is always tempting to expand a Thursday holiday into a Wednesday-S...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6175/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $4.9875/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Exports have accounted for 25 percent of U.S. farm income, but that share will continue to fall. While China has taken about 25 percent of U.S. agricultura...

USDA reports U.S. Cattle on Feed up 3 percent on Nov 1 2018: Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capa...

Livestock China’s Domestic Poultry Surges as Hog Market Impacted by Illness According to data from China’s National Grain and Oil Information C...

With the U.S. stock market tanking again and worries over the global economy building, investors continued yesterday’s flight from risk. Nearly all c...

The EPA will likely release its Required Volume Obligations (RVOs) final rule for 2019 next week, prior to the 30 November deadline. While now being review...

Moral Approach to Trade Bernd Lange, chairman of the European Parliament’s International Trade Committee, is correct in his calculation that the EU w...

With the corn/soybean harvests in their final stage and the normal slowdown of a holiday week, the current markets may not generate much that deserves anal...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6125/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0075/bushel, up $0.0225 from yesterday's close.&nb...

Russian Meat Producer to Build Soybean Crush Plant  Russia’s largest meat producer, Cherkizovo, has announced its plans to build a large soybean...

Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS The government of Pakistan is expected to annou...

Soybeans The market was again slow last week with China absent as its trade war with the U.S. continues despite the expectations for talks between Presiden...

This is Thanksgiving week in the U.S., and the markets will be closed that day. However, this holiday has other implications such as the following: It is...

APEC’s Bad Omen While Beijing has reportedly responded in writing to Washington’s demand for specific trade reforms, the market should not plac...

The Sunday night markets opened almost exactly steady and traded that way for the first two to three hours. They then finished that session with wheat down...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was again stable last week. Russia finally received some long-awaited rains, and wheat conditions there have improved. I...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6225/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $4.985/bushel, down $0.0825 from yesterday's close.&...

As December options approach their expiration, the markets are reflecting the typical decrease in ATM IVs and increase in OTM IV values. Interestingly, Jan...

Ethanol exports are on track to set a record in 2018 and will likely top 1.6 billion gallons, approximately 10 percent of all production. However, robust s...

Coming Transatlantic Trade War EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström correctly said this week in Washington that she understands that including agri...

The elections have had their impact on Congress as well as the Senate and House Agriculture Committees (as previously noted). Perhaps the biggest changes,...

Many of the nation’s agricultural bankers were in Omaha this week for their annual conference. The media was also there interviewing anyone willing t...

It was another quiet night session Thursday evening with little price change in corn, wheat and soybean futures, and that dull pattern of trade didn’...

Wheat:  Net sales of 438,300 metric tons for 2018/2019 were down 34 percent from the previous week and 18 percent from the prior 4-week average. ...

Record NOPA Monthly Crush in October The National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) yesterday reported its members crushed 172.346 million bushels (4.6...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6475/bushel, down $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0675/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.&...

Corn Prices Remain Higher, Curbing Export Potential The government of India (GOI) estimated the khariff (October harvest) corn production at 21.47 MMT on 2...

The soybean market’s early rally on further reports of discussions on trade between high-level U.S. and Chinese officials helped pull the rest of the...

Cattle and Beef Outlook USDA revised its 2018 beef production forecast to 26.9 billion pounds, a decrease of 30 million pounds, as fewer fed cattle are exp...

Farm Bill Odds Various political analysts are placing better than 50/50 odds that the farm bill is approved during the current lame-duck session of the U.S...

The extent to which hope for a solution to the U.S.-China trade dispute has dominated the soybean market has been previously discussed here. Soybean future...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.675/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.055/bushel, up $0.025 from yesterday's close. ...

Russian Grain Markets: 5-9 November 2018 Milling wheat export prices were stable at an average $228/MT FOB Black Sea, and purchase prices at seaports grew...

Yesterday commodity markets were dominated by NYMEX crude oil’s precipitous decline, but today that market stabilized and actually closed a little hi...

Transatlantic Expectations EU Trade Commissioner Cecilia Malmström is in Washington to meet with her U.S. counterpart, Robert Lighthizer, and discuss...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.67/bushel, up $0.005 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.03/bushel, down $0.0475 from yesterday's close. ...

Livestock African Swine Fever Continues to Run Rampant Despite quarantines, incentives to cull herds impacted by sick animals, and harsh penalties administ...

Overnight trade reversed some of what occurred on Monday. Soybeans were higher, while grain prices were lower. Traders were chewing over news that U.S. Tre...

Only twice has a country filed a challenge in the WTO against another’s required notification of its domestic ag subsidies. The first was in May when...

False Rise of Small Ag More Democrats than Republicans take a populist view toward American agriculture, and that means the current capitalist system will...

For the past few weeks, the soybean futures market has been living largely on hope. At this writing, the January soybean contract is at $8.815, down 1.75 c...

European Rapeseed Plantings Down Sharply The head of the French Federation of Oilseed and Protein Crop Producers (FOP) indicated last week that the country...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.665/bushel, down $0.0475 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0775/bushel, down $0.12 from yesterday's close.&n...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Iran’s Chabahar port has been granted an exemption from the U.S. sanctions placed on that country...

Awkward Uniter By being antagonistic, U.S. President Donald Trump is awkwardly uniting the world. His earlier attacks on NAFTA managed to boost support for...

Today was the Veterans Day holiday in the U.S. The government was closed, but markets were open. The typical Monday USDA reports (e.g., weekly export inspe...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.7125/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.1975/bushel, up $0.1775 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

The January 2019 soybean futures chart (see below) clearly shows the steep price decline that occurred after China imposed a 25 percent duty on soybean imp...

The wheat market finally has vindication for its persistently bullish outlook after today’s futures rally. Corn options are settling into a neutral/r...

Soybeans Market Overview Chinese soybean demand remains slow, causing Brazilian basis to drop last week. Several exporters with long positions for nearby s...

It is now six days since the midterm elections, and several races still aren’t settled, including a few in the Senate of interest to the ag and food...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week. Russia continues to export about 1 MMT of wheat per week, and the total since the st...

The change in party control of the House will have impacts on the makeup of the House Agriculture Committee; some won’t be major, and other changes a...

Devilish Details Thoroughness in detail is both hard and time consuming. Whether laws or trade agreements are involved, politicians often find it too tedio...

Corn, wheat and soybeans were all lower overnight following yesterday’s negative response to the somewhat bullish U.S. corn and wheat WASDE numbers...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.735/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0775/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.&nb...

That is the question for this month’s WASDE. USDA accepted China’s massive adjustment in corn stocks plus a relatively small upward one in its...

Pulses Demand, Supply and Prices India has been importing large quantities of pulses/lentils over the years. That slowed in the last year, however, as dome...

USDA’s November estimate for 2018/19 is for South America to capture more of China’s soybean market while the United States is likely to captur...

USDA’s November estimate for 2018/19 protein consumption growth rate for China is reduced, which is reflected in the limited number of U.S. export sa...

USDA’s November estimate for 2018/19 U.S. soybean outlook is for lower production, reduced exports, and increased ending stocks.  Soybean produc...

USDA’s November estimate for 2018/19 U.S. corn outlook is for lower production, reduced feed and residual use and exports, and smaller ending stocks...

USDA’s November estimate for the 2018/19 U.S. wheat crop are unchanged this month, and total use is raised 7 million bushels on higher seed use that...

Upon detecting the sharp increases in WASDE estimates of world corn and wheat production/stocks, computer trading programs launched sell orders that quickl...

Congressional Power Shuffle Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-New Jersey) is likely to take over the U.S. House Ways and Means Committee’s Subcommittee on...

USDA/NASS cut the U.S. corn and yield estimates by 1.8 bushel/acre (BPA) and 1.0 BPA, respectively. Those reductions were well below the average minor chan...

That sound you heard today around Noon Eastern Time was the market trying to digest USDA’s decision to triple China’s corn ending stocks. Earli...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.735/bushel, up $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0775/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close.&nb...

USMCA Gains Offset by Section 232 A report commissioned by the Farm Foundation and conducted by Purdue University projects that the newly-negotiated USMCA...

China’s Heilongjiang Province Doubles Subsidy for Soybeans Heilongjiang Province, China’s top soybean and corn producer, has doubled its subsid...

Wheat:  Net sales of 661,200 metric tons for 2018/2019 were up 14 percent from the previous week and 47 percent from the prior 4-week average. &n...

The midterm election has come and gone with the results about as predicted – a Democratic House and a Republican Senate. This will give the chatterin...

  Russian Grain Markets: 29 October-2 November 2018 Grain prices moved in different directions. Milling wheat export prices decreased $4/MT to an aver...

Post-Election Forecast Divided government is coming to Washington, and it has both positives and negatives. Optimists envision the farm bill being complete...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.7225/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.1025/bushel, down $0.0175 from yesterday's close.&...

Post-midterm election, pre-WASDE commodity trading lacked the excitement of last night’s newscasts. Grains were flat/lower while the livestock comple...

Oilseeds Soymeal Inventory Rises as Feed Demand Falls Sharply The impact of African swine flu (ASF) has continued to dampen feed demand throughout the end...

There was apparently a lack of incentive to either buy or sell grain and soy futures in the overnight session, and that carried over into the day session a...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.7325/bushel, down $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.12/bushel, up $0.0475 from yesterday's close.&nb...

The Resistance The Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) issued a report on antibiotic (AB) resistance and policies to slow the tren...

The final 2019 Required Volume Obligations (RVOs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) are being reviewed by the Office of Management and Budget (OMB)...

It is midterm Election Day in the U.S., and the antipathy between Trump supporters and haters is generating more than the usual interest. Whatever the resu...

Grain trade was lackluster with profit taking and position squaring ahead of Thursday’s WASDE report. The livestock markets were another matter, howe...

Brazil’s Soybean Crushers Seek Better Market Access for Soymeal in China The huge increase in Brazil’s soybean exports to China has been a boon...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Russia and Syria are reportedly about to cooperate on a wheat hub in the latter country for the Middle...

China Offers Sugar High Western commercial companies are participating, but G-7 governments are skipping out on China’s International Import Expo in...

U.S. corn and soybean yields are so good that they will more than offset the lower harvest price calculations for the crop revenue insurance products. Reme...

Markets started the Sunday night session steady to just slightly higher, but wheat and corn closed this morning down a penny with soybeans 3-4 cents lower...

Soybeans Market Overview The soybean market remained bearish last week with Chinese buyers quiet and Brazilian sellers trying to sell their old crop long p...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.74/bushel, up $0.0275 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0725/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

The wheat market remains stubbornly bullish, as it has for weeks, despite the failure of futures prices to produce a substantial rally. Corn and soybean op...

In 2008, California passed Proposition 2, which regulated the size of battery cages used in egg production in the state. The measure was fully in effect in...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market was slightly weaker last week in sympathy with the futures markets in Chicago and Paris. Meanwhile, the domestic market...

Soybean futures were up as much as 18-20 cents overnight on follow-through buying from yesterday’s strength. The market, however, cooled off just bef...

Sino-U.S. Smokescreen The supposed bilateral kickoff of a potential U.S.-China negotiated trade deal is mostly President Trump blowing smoke. After his pho...

There’s been much made in the global media about President-Elect Jair Bolsonaro being the “Brazilian Trump.” Is he? Here’s a WPI ov...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.7125/bushel, up $0.045 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0875/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

This seemed to be the week that many wanted to talk about how much more corn and less soybeans farmers will plant in 2019 because of the drop in soybean pr...

How Much Sugar and Ethanol Will India Produce in Sugar Year 2018/19? It was widely speculated about four months ago that India would produce a huge volume...

WPI's monthly publication features analyses of U.S. agribusiness, U.S. soybean marketing strategies, the U.S. biofuels industry, the global outlook for far...

In overnight futures trading, the grains were a bit firmer with soybeans hovering on either side of unchanged. The only news of consequence was a sharp, un...

Leveraging India A U.S.-India Trade Policy Forum scheduled for this week has been postponed due to the lack of progress on bilateral trade negotiations. In...

Wheat:  Net sales of 582,500 metric tons for 2018/2019 were up 32 percent from the previous week and 41 percent from the prior 4-week average  Co...

China Blocking Discharge of U.S. Soybean Cargoes When China imposed an additional 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans on 6 July, it was assumed that they co...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6675/bushel, up $0.035 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.08/bushel, up $0.075 from yesterday's close. ...

USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue has weighed in on the topic of regulating cell-cultured meat. At the first of a potential series of joint USDA/FDA meetings on...

Soybeans once again led the CBOT higher after President Trump tweeted that meetings between he and President Xi were progressing nicely. That led to optimi...

The anguish among U.S. agricultural producers over the U.S. trade disputes with China and, particularly, the latter’s retaliatory tariffs on their so...

Good morning! An hour after the opening bell in Chicago, January soybeans are up 20 cents and above moving average-resistance after Presidents Trump and Xi...

It may be Halloween, but grain and soy markets carefully stayed away from anything scary or spooky today. Overnight trade saw prices stuck in narrow ranges...

Russian Grain Markets: 22-26 October Domestic grain prices continued to rise except for corn as well as milling rye in some regions. However, the rate of g...

Worse to Come A trade analysis commissioned by the Farm Foundation and executed by Purdue University found that the U.S.-Mexico Canada Agreement (USMCA) wo...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6325/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.005/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.&nb...

Soybeans were the leader at the CBOT today while wheat and corn futures failed to find much buying interest. Cattle futures were higher while lean hogs fel...

Oilseeds China Feed Industry Association Approves Lower Protein Standard The China Feed Industry Association, which was part of the agriculture ministry un...

Grain markets are dealing with several headwinds. One is the slow pace of fall harvests and winter wheat seeding. Although considerable harvest progress wa...

Transatlantic Economic War Washington and Brussels are like two ships passing in the night - going in opposite directions and unable to clearly see the oth...

Yesterday USDA Secretary Perdue noted that the second tranche of trade relief would likely be coming no later than December. Previously, there was speculat...

The news late last week that GASC bought a 60,000 MT cargo of U.S. SRW seemed to cause only a brief stir in the market despite this being the first such pu...

Higher PNW Soybean Export Inspections One of the greatest impacts of China’s additional 25 percent tariff on U.S. soybeans has been the loss of those...

Except for nearby hog futures, the CBOT/CME was essentially pure red today with grains and cattle futures falling. The stock market’s volatility and...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6475/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $4.9975/bushel, down $0.075 from yesterday's close.&n...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS The latest USDA-FAS report on Jordan indicates the country will import 1.1 MMT of wheat in 2018/19 alon...

Dissecting China Asian financial analyst Stewart Paterson presented his new book, China, Trade and Power, at the free trade-focused Center for Strategic an...

The announcement last Friday that Egypt bought U.S. wheat for the first time since May 2017 sent a bullish message to wheat futures that day, and the resul...

Wheat traders may be receiving supernatural data as the market continues to signal bullish times ahead for futures. Elsewhere, after weeks of bullishness,...

The 2018 midterm congressional elections will be held a week from tomorrow, and polls as well as other factors today indicate the outcome is more likely be...

Wheat, corn and soybean futures were higher overnight. Chicago wheat traded as much as a dime higher with corn and soybeans up 3-4 cents and 6-8 cents, res...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6675/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0725/bushel, up $0.02 from yesterday's close. ...

Soybeans Market Overview Interestingly, soybean basis started to drop quickly last week for nearby shipments after several weeks of a stronger old crop mar...

The EPA has revealed its rule-making timeline regarding a waiver for year-round consumption of E15, and the proposed rule is targeted for February. After c...

Yesterday’s Minneapolis StarTribune newspaper had a story headlined, “Herbicide found in Cheerios reignites debate on food safety” (click...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6775/bushel, up $0.0675 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.0525/bushel, up $0.18 from yesterday's close. ...

Markets firmed up overnight with wheat trading 5-6 cents higher following yesterday’s big sell-off. Wheat then took off sharply higher in the first h...

Demonopolization  China steadfastly refuses to reduce the number of state-owned enterprises operating in its economy. This reflects its internal polit...

As India’s Sugar Production Commences, Ethanol Tender Under Scrutiny The sugarcane crush season has started in India with a few mills beginning opera...

Wheat:  Net sales of 442,600 metric tons for 2018/2019 were down 7 percent from the previous week and from the prior 4-week average.    ...

Winter wheat futures prices were still under pressure during the overnight session, much as they have been nearly all week. That weakness kept the other ma...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.61/bushel, down $0.0725 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $4.8725/bushel, down $0.1225 from yesterday's close.&...

Preparing Japanese Agriculture Japan has long protected its agriculture sector over fears of food security and as a political payoff since there is a struc...

At a campaign rally in Wisconsin, President Trump gave dairy farmers credit for helping him understand the importance of securing the new USMCA. He said in...

Futures markets are all about anticipating the direction that prices for the underlying instrument will take at certain specific points of time in the futu...

The grains complex collapsed today under slow exports, fund liquidation, and harvest pressure.  Corn, soybeans, and wheat futures were sharply lower a...

Russia Expects to Double Soybean Production by 2023 Russia’s Ministry of Agriculture predicts soybean production there will double from 4 MMT in 2018...

Although overnight trading volume in currencies, interest rates, stock indexes and crude oil was heavier than usual, grain and soy futures prices continued...

USMCA Prospects Expecting to at least take control of the U.S. House in next month’s midterm elections, Democrats are signaling that passage of the n...

Russian Grain Markets: 15-19 October Most domestic prices continued to grow. A few remained steady, however, and there were decreases in some milling rye a...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6825/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $4.995/bushel, down $0.095 from yesterday's close.&nb...

The fireworks were in the hog market today as the first two listed contracts finished with limit gains. Live cattle futures found support as well, while fe...

Macro Trends Food Inflation Hits Seventh-Month High As the trade war with the U.S. has continued, monthly food costs in China surged with the end of summer...

Overnight trading volume seemed slightly higher than has been usual recently, but price action for grain and soy futures markets was muted nevertheless. Co...

Fungible Assistance The World Bank and (largely Japanese-funded) Asian Development Bank continue to provide development assistance to China that is general...

With the Trump administration’s focus on trade policy reform and restructuring, there is renewed interest in the U.S. Census Bureau’s monthly t...

The U.S. corn and soybean harvests are dominating the fundamental grain market inputs just as they should at this time of year, especially given the huge c...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.7025/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.09/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close. ...

Dry Weather Reducing India’s Oilseed Production There were expectations earlier this year that India would produce a significantly larger oilseed cro...

Grain markets were quiet today with generally sideways trading prevailing. Cattle futures were lower on aggressive short-hedging while the hog market found...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Egypt is reportedly looking at the possibility of establishing a wheat hedging program to better protec...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.695/bushel, up $0.025 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.08/bushel, down $0.0675 from yesterday's close. ...

Fateful China Strategy The Chinese are quite upset that the Trump administration has not singled out their economic policies for criticism but has instead...

The Sunday evening markets held the same trend they have had for several weeks now. Corn and soybean futures were steady to slightly higher with wheat lowe...

Soybeans Brazil Soybean markets were very slow everywhere last week with suppliers expecting the Chinese to return and actively purchase from South America...

The options market has correctly foreseen corn futures’ march higher since mid-September and is signaling this rally isn’t over year. The corn...

There are stories almost daily about how low prices are causing pain for farmers across the U.S. Meanwhile, the U.S.-China trade dispute is an issue in som...

Milling Wheat Domestic prices in Russia were up $2-5/MT last week and are now $15-23/MT (1,000-5,000 rubles/MT) higher versus early August. Exports from th...

The cattle on feed (COF) inventory as of 1 October set a record for the month at 11.4 million head, which was also the fifth consecutive new monthly record...

ASEM Reality EU Foreign Affairs Commissioner Federica Mogherini says this week’s Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM) to promote liberalized trade and climate...

Overnight markets finished with slight losses in corn and wheat but minor gains in soybeans on very light trading volume. Today’s session saw wheat m...

A recent article in Ars Technica (click here) must have received wide circulation across social media as several people forwarded it to this analyst,...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.67/bushel, down $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.1475/bushel, up $0.0175 from yesterday's close.&nb...

USDA reported U.S. Cattle on Feed Up 5 Percent: Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000...

  If all goes as expected, the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA), which is the renegotiated trade pact formerly known as NAFTA, will be officially...

Stable Pulses Demand; Prices Remain Low India’s 2018/10 khariff pulses production is expected to reach 9.2 MMT, down slightly from 9.34 MMT in the pr...

Wheat:  Net sales of 476,000 metric tons for 2018/2019 were up 40 percent from the previous week, but unchanged from the prior 4-week average.  &...

New Trade Deals Proposed This week the U.S. Trade Representative (USTR) notified Congress of the administration’s intent to negotiate new trade agree...

Competitiveness and Climate Switzerland has dominated the Global Competitiveness Index over the past decade with Singapore and Northern European countries...

Markets were lower overnight following yesterday’s declines, and they slipped a bit more after the weekly export sales report was released 15 minutes...

The Global Harvest Initiative is a non-profit organization founded in 2009 by DuPont, ADM, Monsanto and John Deere. Its purpose is to advance policies, res...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.7075/bushel, down $0.035 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.13/bushel, down $0.045 from yesterday's close.&nb...

U.S. Soy Sector Needs U.S.-China Trade Deal Soon U.S. farmers are struggling through a largely miserable harvest season with frequent rains as well as snow...

Dec Corn 2018 ($/bu) $3.7425 Dec Wheat 2018 ($/bu) $5.1750 Dec HRW Wheat 2018 $5.2100 Nov Soybeans 2018 ($/bu) $8.8575 Dec Soymeal 2018 ($/short ton) $323...

Russian Grain Markets: 8-12 October Most prices on the Russian grain market continued to rise, but some remained stable. Milling wheat export prices were s...

Price action in overnight trading and again during the day session can best be described as dull. Volume was low, and price movement was subdued. The corn...

China Situation British author Stewart Paterson’s new book China, Trade and Power details how China’s accession to the WTO came with unexpected...

Macro Trends Value of China’s Agricultural Imports in September Higher than a Year Ago China’s agricultural imports in September were valued at...

What Monday giveth, Tuesday taketh away – a colloquial way of saying that for grain and soy markets, today was Turnaround Tuesday. After Monday&rsquo...

President Trump’s critique of the Federal Reserve’s recent steps has put a new focus on inflation. He has commented that the Fed is too tight a...

Awkward Trade Talks The Trump administration formally notified the U.S. Congress today of its intent to enter trade negotiations with Japan, the EU and the...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.7525/bushel, down $0.03 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.235/bushel, down $0.015 from yesterday's close.&nb...

The surprise from USDA’s October WASDE (released last Thursday) was the reduction in the estimated U.S. national average corn yield from September&rs...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Due to the risk of avian flu and increased incidences in both poultry and people, the government of Egy...

  Soybeans Argentina After several weeks of rising basis in Brazil, the market there started dropping gradually last week. Firmer CME and a drop in Da...

Last Friday we updated our view of the tightening world wheat situation and how that will eventually force the wheat market to rally. It was noted in diffe...

U.S. Activists versus Mexican Leaders Karen Hansen-Kuhn of the U.S.-based Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy (IATP), a gadfly anti-trade group, say...

Markets were very quiet in the Sunday night session and closed with fractional losses in extremely light volume. Their tone changed at this morning’s...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.7825/bushel, up $0.045 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.25/bushel, up $0.0775 from yesterday's close. ...

With the 2018 midterm election three weeks away, the Democrats need a 23-seat pickup in the House of Representatives to reach the 218 seats (of 435) necess...

Milling Wheat Prices in the Black Sea region were again about unchanged last week. Russian exports continue to impress at close to 15 MMT already shipped s...

China Less Easy Than Europe The Nikkei headline says, “Jack Ma slams Western economic models, says Europe over-regulated.” The retiring billion...

With the cold weather season coming, natural gas storage is at long-term lows. The U.S. Energy Information Administration’s (EIA’s) October Sho...

Wheat:  Net sales of 339,000 metric tons for 2018/2019 were down 22 percent from the previous week and 30 percent from the prior 4-week average. ...

U.S. wheat futures markets continue to trade in a relatively narrow range that is also near the bottom of a longer term-range (see the Chicago wheat chart...

Markets were steady to slightly higher overnight with wheat the leader. However, wheat softened after the export sales report that was released today (dela...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.7375/bushel, up $0.045 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.1725/bushel, up $0.0925 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Oil Meal Exports Continue Upward Trend India’s oil meal exports totaled 1.403 MMT for the first six months of FY 2018/19 (April-March), up 0.119 MMT...

New Chinese Feed Regs The U.S. is typically the big seller of soybeans in the 4Q as harvest comes in and Brazilian stocks thin, which is impacting the Chin...

Overnight trade volume was limited as the market awaited release of USDA’s October WASDE. Corn and wheat were a penny or so lower with soybeans down...

Transatlantic Regulatory Cooperation The EU and U.S. are working on regulatory cooperation with the likely tool being mutual acceptance of substantial equi...

After two months of bearish reports, there was a general feeling that USDA’s October WASDE, released today at noon (EDT), would add to that trend wit...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6925/bushel, up $0.065 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.08/bushel, down $0.025 from yesterday's close. ...

October estimate is U.S. soybean oil price unchanged at 28.0 to 32.0 cents per pound. Despite lower global oilseed production, increased beginning sto...

2018/19 soymeal values are unchanged from a month ago. The October estimated price range for U.S. soybean meal is also unchanged at $290 to $330 per short...

October soybean production forecast is 4,690 million bushels, down 3.5 million with higher yields offset by lower harvested area. The soybean yield is proj...

October’s 2018/19 U.S. corn outlook is for lower production, increased exports, reduced feed and residual use and larger ending stocks. Corn producti...

The outlook for 2018/19 U.S. wheat in October is larger supplies, reduced domestic use, unchanged exports, and higher ending stocks. Wheat production...

Fear of the impact of higher interest rates sent the U.S. stock market and nearly every commodity market spinning lower today. And as traders contemplate t...

Ratification Prospects Opposition to the USMCA has been muted as analysts wait to see the fine print behind the Trump administration’s optimistic spi...

Russian Grain Markets: 1-5 October Prices followed the previous week’s trend of moving in different directions. While average prices also again mainl...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6275/bushel, down $0.0175 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.105/bushel, down $0.045 from yesterday's close.&...

Macro Trends U.S. Ag Exports to China Fall to Ten-Year Low The USDA-GATS October export data, which covers monthly figures through August 2018, underscores...

Jerome Powell spoke at a conference last week in Washington, DC. The event was one week after the Fed increased the federal funds interest rate target by a...

Vietnam versus China They are both Communist-governed countries, but China more centrally controls its economy than does Vietnam. Beijing rationalizes its...

As noted before, it is the U.S. Census Bureau rather than USDA that keeps the official count of grain, soybean and soy product exports. USDA’s FGIS k...

Grain and soy markets slumbered through the overnight session with the October WASDE two days away. There was little movement in wheat and corn prices, and...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.645/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.15/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close.  N...

Brazilian Processors Squeezed by China’s Soybean Purchases Despite a record soybean crop in 2018, Brazil’s processors are not having the banner...

Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Morocco has confirmed that it will lift the 135 percent duty on soft wheat imports as of 1 November 201...

Inconvenient Truths In Beijing, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo said that Washington has a "fundamental disagreement" with China on economic and trade...

Wheat, corn and soybean markets are behaving like the corn and soybean harvests, continuing to slog along as if stuck in the mud. Perhaps that is the way i...

In round one of Brazil’s presidential election yesterday, none of the 13 candidates garnered the necessary 50 percent of the vote. Now the top two vo...

The Sunday night session traded slightly higher until prices turned lower early this morning, led by wheat. Markets then opened the day session lower and t...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.665/bushel, down $0.0175 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.14/bushel, down $0.07 from yesterday's close.&nbs...

Soybeans Brazil Despite the Chinese holiday, which should have brought a very quiet week, there were some movements on nearby positions as well as on new c...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week. The weather in Russia improved for the spring wheat harvesting in Siberia but remain...

Ethanol stocks, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), are at their highest level since March, and they are also up 8.8 percent ver...

It was a quiet trading session overnight. Corn, soybeans and wheat were all slightly higher with closing gains of a penny, 2 cents and 2-3 cents, respectiv...

China Policy Set This week’s speech by U.S. Vice President Mike Pence outlined the comprehensive approach of the Trump administration toward China, w...

Oilseeds Major Feed Companies Hike Price to Offset Tariffs During the last week of September, several large feed manufacturers, including New Hope Group, C...

One of the big questions that has not yet been answered during this year’s corn and soybean harvest is how and where farmers will store these record...

Dec 18 Corn closed at $3.6825/bushel, up $0.0075 from yesterday's close.  Dec 18 Wheat closed at $5.21/bushel, up $0.03 from yesterday's close. ...

MSP for Rabi Crops Announced The commitment to double farmers’ income by the Modi government ensured an increase in the Minimum Support Prices (MSPs)...

Low volume, narrow trading ranges and slightly firmer prices characterized trade in the overnight session for grains and the soy complex. The heavy rains d...

Beef and Beans With a surfeit of cheap soybeans (thanks to Chinese tariffs) coinciding with record cattle on feed inventories and strong domestic/export be...

Recession Risks Harvard University economist Martin Feldstein wrote this week in the Wall Street Journal that the U.S. is facing a severe economic downturn...

These are particularly risky times for commodity traders. Raw material markets are being pushed and pulled by geopolitical forces as well as rapidly changi...

India Raises Minimum Price for Rapeseed Faced with farmers protesting low commodity prices, the government of India (GOI) yesterday boosted the minimum pri...