We predicted on 17 September that the Republican nutrition-only title of the farm bill would squeak by the House this week. Yesterday, the House did indeed...

General Comments It was a black and blue Friday for equity and commodity markets with both trading lower to sharply lower. CNBC reported today that more mo...

There are really only two short-term issues left for the market to deal with over the next month or two. This is assuming that while there will certainly b...

India's Food Inflation According to Consumer Price Index (CPI) calculations, retail inflation eased slightly to 9.52 percent for August 2013 from 9.64 perc...

Shrinking Beef Supplies USDA releases the Cattle on Feed report tomorrow, and the consensus expectation is for numbers to be down – again. The total number...

In varying degrees, world grain and oilseed markets have been forced to deal with concerns raised by tight supplies, or at least perceptions of tight suppl...

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General Comments Yesterday's Fed announcement that it would not cut back its monthly bond buying program at this time surprised many Fed watchers. Fed offi...

Political Success A testy vote today on food stamp spending started with a partisan vote on the rule itself and will likely go down from there. By contrast...

A Big Week for U.S. Soybean Export Sales This has been a very big week for U.S. soybean export sales. Yesterday, USDA announced that U.S. exporters had rep...

General Comments In a mild surprise, the Fed's Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) decided not to ease back its quantitative easing (QE) program of buying...

Fresh Licenses Didn't Activate Argentine Corn Market The Argentine government decided to release 3 MMT of licenses for the old crop corn, and market partic...

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TPP Disappointment U.S. business representatives are concerned that the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations are headed toward a less than ambitiou...

Russian Grain Markets: 11-17 September 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 16 September, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 31.8 million hectares, 69.1...

Much of the fate of the 2013 farm bill comes down to the disposition of the House Republican leadership's proposal for food stamps, officially named the Su...

Early this morning, USDA's Farm Service Agency (FSA) released preliminary data on U.S. acreage planted, abandoned and prevented from being planted. The bas...

General Comments USDA's Farm Service Agency (FAS) released its acreage data collected from farm program compliance and crop insurance at 5 AM EDT, in time...

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Saps in Negotiations The U.S. is being overly conciliatory toward the G-33 and their demand for a food security exemption to WTO agriculture disciplines. T...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Hodeidah, a major port city in Yemen, will undergo an expansion and modernization program that is es...

A lot of Uncertainty about U.S. Soybean Yields I have been in the Quad Cities area of Illinois and Iowa this week, attending a conference organized by the...

Commodity Analytics shows the most recent data for grain export sales and shipments along with historic patterns. Current deviations from historic norms po...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained unchanged last week. Prices have been stable since July. Exporters are not pressing the market too aggressively...

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According to the majority leader's calendar, the House will start votes Tuesday evening in order to dispose of a number of items before moving to the nutri...

China's Livestock Industry May Take over Crop Farming by 2015 The China Academy of Engineering (CAE) recently released the results of its study on sustaina...

General Comments Weekend rain across a good portion of the dry western Corn Belt forced the soy complex lower Sunday evening, and those losses became signi...

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The market is already talking about the potential for another record soybean crop in Brazil, months before it will be planted. That assumption is based on...

Simple Sugars Multinational financial services companies have a lot of expertise, but complex public policy issues deserve more robust analysis than the Cr...

General Comments After digesting USDA's data for a night, there seemed to be a conclusion that yesterday's 40 cent run-up in November soybeans was a little...

The European Parliament voted earlier this week to reduce the target for biofuels from 10 percent to 6 percent by primarily cutting back on food crops as b...

Economy Stalled Due to Slow Domestic Demand CRISIL, the global analytical company, has reduced the 2013/14 GDP growth estimate to 4.8 percent from the 5.5...

General Comments Today's price action was all about the contents of USDA's WASDE report, and it was made evident that large speculative traders w...

USDA Cuts U.S. Soy Yield, Production, Crush, Exports and Carryout Stocks USDA reduced its forecast as expected for the U.S. soybean crop in today's supply...

Recall that soybean futures were trading below $6.00 per bushel in the fall of 2006. Within about two years, soybean contracts had rallied about $10 per bu...

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WASDE Projections The September World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates Report (WASDE) was released this morning. It projected production growth for...

Ag as Microcosm Changes in U.S. farm size over recent years has witnessed an increase in the number of large, very profitable operations and an increase in...

No Secrets A side show in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) debate is news that America's National Security Agency (NSA) has pursue...

General Comments Wheat contracts started off this morning with a bounce higher, while the soybean complex and corn contracts were rather sedate for a major...

Argentine Crops The needed rains did not arrive in the northern area of Argentina, where the present lack of moisture remains critical. The expected storm...

Russian Grain Markets: 4-10 September 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 6 September, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 27.6 million hectares, 60 per...

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General Comments Capital preservation can sometimes be observed in trade activity, and that seemed somewhat apparent today as positions are adjusted prior...

Speculative traders are much more at liberty to focus on the short-term than are hedgers of commodities, producers or end-users. That is because survival o...

  The Enemy is Us Misperceptions about the agrifood sector are frustrating to everyone and understanding the cause is a huge social science endeavor...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Saudi Arabia has announced that the upcoming Eid Al-Adha holiday will start on 10 October with the g...

Dry Weather Also a Problem in Brazil and Argentina The U.S. soybean crop would appear to be shrinking every day that the hot, dry weather continues across...

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The state of the economy has a significant impact on food consumption, especially expenditures for food consumed at home versus away from home (restaurants...

Congress returns to session this week and there are only nine legislative days on the calendar. The rise of the debate over the proper foreign policy respo...

USDA will release its September crop production estimates and WASDE this Thursday at 12:00pm EDT/11:00am CDT. The August drought across most of the western...

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General Comments Markets had a firmer tone to open the session Sunday evening with soybeans again leading prices somewhat higher. The expected weekend rain...

Russia Saves Washington President Obama's Syria policy may have been rescued by Russia, which has proposed international oversight of the chemical weapons...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market is steady without much pressure from farmers and exporters. Russia is expected to export 16 MMT of wheat in 2013/14 (5 M...

Extreme Weather Affects China's Major Ag Commodities It has been a tough summer for China with floods in the north and northeast as well as high temperatur...

Crop Revenue Insurance The initial price calculation period for the 2014 U.S. winter wheat crop insurance program started on 15 August and runs through 14...

EPA has sent the 2014 Required Volume Obligations (RVO) rule to the Office of Management and Budget for review. This rule establishes how much ethanol and...

General Comments Markets were mixed overnight and also started the day that way. Corn and wheat traded higher most of the session with November soybeans tr...

Food Security Bill – Two Sides of the Coin The Indian Parliament passed the National Food Security Bill (FSB) this week. It will become law once it is sign...

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General Comments Markets were mixed overnight and also started the day that way. Corn and wheat traded higher most of the session with November soybeans tr...

Band-Aids Promoted Countries continue to meet in Geneva in an effort to find agreement on the food security proposal from the G33 developing countries. The...

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China Sells 83 Percent of Soybean Reserve Stock Offering China's Sinograins sold 417,448 MT of soybeans today from its reserve stocks, which amounted to 82...

Regulatory Harmonization U.S. and European leaders made a public commitment this week to a high-standard, comprehensive TransAtlantic Trade and Investment...

Ruling on Smithfield/Counter Offer The U.S. Committee for Foreign Investment in the U.S. (CFIUS) could rule as soon as tomorrow on the Shuanghui Internatio...

General Comments Weather model runs are consistent in picturing rain for the Northern Plains and parts of the Midwest from 8-11 September. North Dakota and...

During the nearly five years since he was elected, it has been interesting, to say the least, to compare President Obama's approach toward the domestic pol...

General Comments What would a market week be without a turnaround Tuesday, even if it falls on Wednesday due to the holiday on Monday? The fact that today...

Wheat Market Brazilian millers were in the market this week to buy Argentine wheat as the Free Aside Shipment (FAS) market is heating up. Exporters paid $2...

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A number of developments are brewing in the biofuels sector. Below is a look at each: Sugar to Ethanol The Feedstock Flexibility Program (FFP) was complete...

Farm Bill Extension Steve Kopperud of the government relations firm Policy Directions Inc. correctly opines that President Obama teeing up the Syria war re...

Russian Grain Markets: 29 August – 3 September 3 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 2 September, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 25.8 million hecta...

General Comments Export grain inspections for the week ending 29 August were strong for wheat and corn, but soybean inspections were slim. Wheat's volume c...

Weekend Rainfall Insufficient to Stem Soybean Losses Rainfall was received in the Midwest over the weekend, but the amounts and coverage were insufficient...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The U.S. export business to Morocco for both soymeal and soyoil faces a great deal of competition th...

TTIP Hype European proponents of the TransAtlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) are sounding like salesmen with their hype that TTIP is the sing...

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In terms of actual weather conditions and temperature readings, it has been a relatively mild summer in Washington, DC. Temperatures have averaged well bel...

General Comments Soybeans led the market lower overnight and pushed prices back into the gap that higher openings created last Monday. Not much has changed...

The U.S. soybean outlook has turned from bearish to bullish over the past 30 days because soybean yields across the western Corn Belt have been reduced by...

On Wednesday night of this week, ethanol mills that were interested in buying surplus sugar under the Feedstock Flexibility Program (FFP) were required to...

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Worst Performance by Indian Currency within BRICS and Economic Doom India's rupee is the worst performer out of all of the BRICS countries (Brazil, Russia,...

In Japan, the ruling Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) is straddling a rough course between defending its key farm constituency from overseas competition and...

Indonesia's Palm Oil Plays Oilseed competitors in western countries have extensively used disparagement to slow the palm oil tsunami out of Southeast Asia...

General Comments Overnight trade in grains and the soy complex saw prices chop around without much direction. Trading volume was moderate but well below th...

Livestock Producer Data Collection Issue Arises Again Back in February of this year, we reported that EPA had been collecting data on confined animal feedi...

Lanworth Reduces its Forecast for U.S. Soybean and Corn Production Lanworth, the crop forecaster subsidiary of Thomson Reuters, yesterday reduced its forec...

Aren't weather markets fun? For the third year in a row, the U.S. crop production has been bedeviled by various kinds and combinations of adverse weather r...

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Russian Grain Market: 21-28 August 2013 Harvesting Updates As of August 26, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 23.5 million hectares (3.4 million...

Argentina: Farmer Selling for Campaign 2013/14 Farmer selling in Argentina is completely delayed compared with other origins such as Brazil and to the past...

General Comments Overnight trade saw more short covering and mostly firmer prices in response to what were seen as unfavorable weather forecasts – no break...

TPP Nut-Cracking The political commitment to complete the TransPacific Partnership (TPP) negotiations this year brings forward the various tough issues. Th...

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To state the obvious, corn and soy futures markets reacted to the flash drought with a vigorous weather premium rally that peaked yesterday, then paused to...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS This year's Syrian wheat harvest is reported to be the best in a decade despite the country's curren...

Coalescing Silliness The ethanol companies coalesced and developed a McCarthy-like strategy to demand an investigation of the oil companies for coalescing...

General Comments After corn and soy futures prices jumped so sharply yesterday in the haste to price in the risks of the late season drought and this week'...

Congress has about one week of legislative days to pass a continuing resolution (CR) for funding the federal government when it returns. To date, there hav...

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Indonesian Government Rejects Proposal to Eliminate Soybean Import Tariff Today, the Indonesian government rejected a proposal by its Minister of Trade to...

Ben Bernanke's term as chairman of the Federal Reserve is to end on 31 January 2014 and all indications are that President Obama will nominate a new chairm...

General Comments The Pro Farmer tour's corn and soybean production estimates were below the USDA August WASDE estimates and that, coupled with the extended...

China's Domestic Rapeseed Meal Price Hikes amid Low Supply China's rapeseed meal prices continued to rise the week of 19 August and reached $522.88-$555.55...

WPI has written about the declining state of the U.S. soybean crop for several weeks. Our concerns started when crop observers reported that soybean pod co...

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As we reported on 6 August, EPA announced the 2013 required volume obligations (RVO) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) – albeit eight months late. RV...

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General Comments Soybeans led markets higher overnight and then exploded higher after 9:30 this morning. It has been an interesting week in the soy complex...

The Pro Farm crop tour was completed this week and the results were interpreted as bullish for soybeans and bearish for corn. The bullish soybean story is...

Rupee Nose Dives; Economy in Critical Condition The declining value of the rupee is having an apparent effect on the economy. It has lost 20 percent of its...

President Obama signed the Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act on 22 July 2010. Known simply as Dodd-Frank after its principal authors, Senator...

Cattle and Beef Supply In short, cattle are down and beef is up. The National Ag Statistics Service released the monthly cold storage report today. It show...

Canadian Canola Crop Forecast Below Expectations, But Still a Record Statistics Canada released its production forecast yesterday for Canada's main crops...

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Renewable Energy Fallacy Proponents of renewable energy remain hopeful but frustrated, after decades of work and investment, that the alternative to petrol...

General Comments The up-down-up-down pattern of futures market price action continued with both corn and soybeans reversing yesterday's rally. Late though...

Soybeans Brazil reacted quickly to the weakness of the real which dropped from 2.25 to 2.4 reals/USD and the rise of CBOT levels. Farmers sold large quanti...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The Pakistani government is very seriously considering the possibility of reducing the 6 percent...

Deutsche Bank has issued a report highlighting the additional cost of non-tariff barriers. For example, while EU food exporters face average U.S. tariffs o...

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General Comments Corn and soy futures prices continued the down one day and up the next pattern of recent days. Traders are parsing every weather model run...

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As we have reported on both 6 August and 13 August, EPA is finalizing rules for the 2014 required volume obligations (RVO) for biofuels, and there is much...

General Comments Following yesterday's sharp jump in grain and soy futures prices, a Turnaround Tuesday sort of consolidation seemed almost inevitable. Sti...

In many respects, the U.S. wheat year of 2013/14 will be a strange one. Much of the hard red winter (HRW) crop was planted in drought conditions last fall...

Tight Cottonseed Supplies Forecasted Again for MY 2013/14 MY 2013/14 is shaping up to be another bad one for U.S. cottonseed processors if USDA's forecasts...

Russian Grain Market: 15-20 August 2013 Harvesting Updates Grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 17.7 million hectares (3.4 million hectares less th...

While Congress is on its August recess – or sometimes referred to as district work sessions break – there is much focus on the farm bill. Lawmakers have be...

Chinese Government's Seed Industry Concerns Chinese industry and government officials recently showed concern about the nation's seed industry crisis, and...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea harvest pressure seems to be over. Farmers' selling has decreased significantly as the majority of the winter wheat has already...

Wrong Turn on Supply Controls We noted back on 12 August how French egg farmers were grousing about heavy financial losses as their Dutch counterparts were...

July is corn's month because that's when pollination takes place. August is soybean's month because that's when blooming and pod setting take place. This y...

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General Comments Markets opened stronger than expected Sunday evening led by soybeans that started out 10 to 15 cents higher. Soybeans quite quickly moved...

We reported on 29 July that the final rule for the long anticipated Feedstock Flexibility Program (FFP) was announced. The FFP is intended to avoid sugar l...

Soybean export sales in this week's USDA report totaled 1.9 MMT. That ranks as one of the top five weeks in history and exceeded only a few times back in 2...

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Sucks at Supplicating Michael Needham of the conservative policy advocacy group Heritage Action says Congress should extend the 2008 Farm Bill for another...

Capital Controls for Stemming Rupee Devaluation and Economic Glide The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) imposed partial capital control on companies and individ...

General Comments Markets started the evening session firm but what little strength there was gradually eroded to small losses and little action throughout...

Constituent Service? Credit John McCormick and Greg Giroux over at Bloomberg for revealing a delicious irony in the food stamp debate. They analyzed USDA d...

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Proof of Principle for In Vitro Burger Professor Mark Post of Maastricht University in the Netherlands served a hamburger last week in London that was cult...

General Comments The color theme for grain and soy complex futures today was firmly green. Prices began to move higher overnight as trading volume picked u...

Recall that the bearish 28 June Acre report caused a sharp sell-off in the December corn contract; down to about $4.90 per bushel. End-users found that to...

Big New Crop Soybean Sales Last Week Today's USDA export sales report showed U.S. exporters made exceptionally large new crop soybean sales last week. The...

MARKETS Recent weakness of the real and the bounce in CBOT soybeans produced a good volume of farmer selling. On Tuesday it was estimated that about 1.5 MM...

Russian Grain Market: 8-14 August 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 12 August, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 16.7 million hectares (3.7 million...

Conflicting Food Safety Rules Trade negotiators in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) and Trade Promotion Authority (TPA) negotiatio...

General Comments The smaller estimated U.S. corn yield and production in Monday's WASDE kicked corn futures prices higher. By Tuesday, doubts about USDA's...

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USDA Makes Questionable Cut in Forecasted U.S. Soybean Yield Yesterday's USDA crop production report surprised a lot of analysts by making a substantial cu...

Well! Those U.S. corn and soybean production estimates from USDA/NASS contained in yesterday's August WASDE provided another instance to show that we in th...

As we wrote on 6 August, EPA issued its 2013 required volume obligations (RVOs) for biofuels under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and notified the marke...

General Comments Yesterday's lower crop yield and production estimates caught a bearishly oversold futures market leaning in the wrong direction which led...

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  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The Iraqi Ministry of Trade has announced that the current wheat stocks on hand are sufficient t...

What's in the Beef Over the years, the popular restaurant chain Chipotle has aired commercials denigrating factory farms while promoting an image of its fa...

Surprises are surprises because they happen when you least expect them to happen. So it was with today's August USDA WASDE report. Here's what happened in...

General Comments Corn and wheat markets were sluggish overnight while soybeans exhibited some strength based on disappointing rains over the weekend across...

Market Quips A selection of recent comments in the meeting rooms of Washington... NSA Spying: During a conference call about implementation of the Dodd-F...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained about unchanged last week. The Ukrainian and Russian harvest is proceeding in favorable weather conditions. The...

Location, location, location. That's the name of the game in real estate and also in commodities. It's all about the basis. This is especially true about U...

China Explores Professional Farmer Training The Chinese government recently initiated the nationwide concept of professional farmers and is starting to exp...

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Clients may recall the disruptive regional dairy policy known as the Northeast Interstate Dairy Compact (NEIDC) which was in place from 1996- 2002. If not,...

Yesterday afternoon a private analytical group released their estimate of U.S. corn and soybean production. The corn number was slightly above the USDA Jul...

General Comments Soybeans benefited from some residual buying overnight following yesterday's strong close, but that buying barely lasted until daylight wh...

India's Oil Meal Exports Down, Iran Remains Biggest Buyer India's oil meal exports contracted by 24.26 percent to 1.027 MMT in the first four months (April...

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Vilsack's Threat USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack issued a clever, even if flawed threat by saying USDA would not be able to make full or continuing compensation...

Reports and Open Trading Hours Now that USDA reports are being released during open trading hours, it is clear that there is a spike in both volatility and...

Beef Cattle and DDGS Demand Last week, Livestock Roundup covered the topic of beef production which was the lowest 1 July beef herd since at least 1973 and...

General Comments Monday's important WASDE looms over the markets, but it was not the only factor in play today. Cash markets, export sales and weather all...

Sizable New Crop Soy Export Sales, Soymeal Sale to China Today's export sales report from USDA continued the trend of recent weeks of very small old crop e...

A Lot of Poor Mouths to Feed in Next Decade There will be more mouths to feed in the future but many will reside in the poorest countries and where governa...

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As we have commented before, USDA's August WASDE is always notable because it contains the first crop yield and production estimates for U.S. corn and soyb...

General Comments Overnight trading in corn and soybeans saw prices move higher while wheat traded on both sides without much direction. The day session fou...

Argentine 2014 Crop Low Production Margins Argentine farmers have seen their historically best economical situation in the past 10 years despite the 35 per...

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Major Concern about Impact of Excess Rainfall on Indian Soybean Crop I was in Mumbai, India at the end of last week to attend and make a presentation at a...

Russian Grain Market: 1-7 August 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 5 August, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 14.1 million hectares. The volume of...

USDA's Report Poltergeist First, it should be emphasized that USDA is as frustrated as the trade over the increased variance since 2007 in the trade's pre-...

As of last Sunday, 4 August, USDA's weekly crop condition report rated 64 percent of the U.S. corn crop as being good/excellent. This was up 1 percent from...

General Comments Grain and soy futures edged lower overnight mostly in response to the slightly improved weekly crop condition report for corn and soybeans...

EPA announced the 2013 Required Volume Obligations (RVO) under the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) today. The RVOs set the minimum amount of biofuels that mu...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The Bangladesh government intends to import another 850,000 MT of wheat this fiscal year and expects...

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Milling Wheat Black Sea harvest pressure seems to have stopped for the moment with prices a bit firmer. Russia's crop may be slightly smaller than the 50-5...

General Comments According to some accounts, over 40 percent of the U.S. crop-growing regions received moisture over this past weekend. The problem was tha...

We are still quite a way from harvesting the 2013 U.S. corn and soybean crops, but if the early private crop production estimates are anyplace close to the...

China's Alfalfa Imports Continue to Grow China's January-June 2013 alfalfa imports reached 319,500 MT, a nearly 63 percent increase year on year, according...

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The farm bill isn't the only thing facing a 30 September deadline; so is the whole government. Congress has 12 appropriations bills to pass to fund the gov...

Wasteful Figures The UK is challenging a European Commission goal of halving food waste by 2020, which is claimed to be 89 million tons annually. Part of t...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) is working on a new version of the nutrition part of the farm bill to be sent to conference with the Senate...

Yesterday afternoon a private analytical group released their estimate of U.S. corn and soybean production. The corn number was slightly above the USDA Jul...

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General Comments A private crop production forecast released after the close yesterday pegged the U.S. corn crop at 13.993 billion bushels and the U.S. soy...

Bountiful Monsoon Brings Bumper Paddy Crop Expectation The 2013/14 crop area under paddy is estimated at 19.638 million hectares against last year's 18.424...

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Still No Silver Bullet Banning 16-ounce soft drinks, vending machines and fried foods in schools as well as the mandatory posting of unhealthful and dense...

General Comments Yesterday's tepid attempt at price recovery quickly got buried by persistent selling by funds. Some of the selling was in response to tech...

Malaysians Upset with France over Palm Oil Treatment Malaysia's government and palm oil industry are quite upset with efforts by some in the French governm...

Summer Beef Production Spiking; 2014 to See Record Beef Prices U.S. beef production will reach a 21-year low according to the U.S. Department of Agricultur...

Last week we made note of two events of importance to American agriculture that took place 50 years ago in 1963.  One was the referendum in which U.S...

Russian Grain Market: 25-30 July 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 30 July, grain and leguminous crops were harvested on 12.6 million hectares. The volume of t...

General Comments The overnight session for grains and the soy complex traded quietly but in fair volume on both sides of unchanged. It seemed as though the...

South American Corn Empty For Spot Shipments Argentine origin is running out of export licenses so most of the local players are out of the market. Due to...

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  EU COOL Pre-Study Results The European Commission has ordered a study to evaluate the impacts of a proposed intra-EU origin labeling requirement on...

EPA Beats USDA Newly installed EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy said today, "We need to cut carbon pollution to grow jobs." In essence, the administration's...

Soybean Crop Condition Down Slightly, Still Good Yesterday's USDA crop progress and condition report indicated there was a 1 percent drop in the combined g...

The Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City has recently reported on an interesting trend in agriculture lending: the market share of agricultural loans shifte...

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General Comments Markets seemed to pause overnight and even tried a modest rally in an effort to assess what may be in store for grains and the complex as...

A few years of relatively high corn prices have encouraged farmers around the world to increase corn production and for a change it appears that reasonably...

  NEWS UPDATES MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Iraq is considering the possibility of importing French wheat in the regular wheat tenders. It norma...

The House Energy and Commerce Committee has been moving steadily ahead this year toward considering reform of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). A series o...

Many farmers from other parts of the world have spent time visiting U.S. farms over the years. Rarely does this happen without these visitors staring in aw...

More Damaged Wheat to Be Downgraded China's wheat crop damage is more severe than previously estimated because of the frost and rain during the growing per...

General Comments It was really just more of the same today. Corn and soybean markets were again weak on softness in old crop basis and weather forecasts th...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained under pressure last week, as the Russian and Ukrainian harvests are progressing under favorable weather conditi...

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USDA today announced two actions to intervene in the sugar market and avoid loan forfeitures: one was a second purchase of raw cane sugar to be offered for...

Fourth Agricultural Production Estimates: Higher Production and Higher Prices India has produced more food grains than the target as well as more wheat, co...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Reciprocity with Japan Cars and wheat should be treated equally. Toru Hisazome, a deputy director in Japan's Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisherie...

General Comments The markets took a much deserved vacation today with prices trading both sides of unchanged in moderate volume. It is reported that tradit...

Sizable Old-Crop Soybean and Soymeal Export Sales This week's USDA export sales report showed sizable sales of soybeans and soymeal for shipment in 2012/13...

It was just last Monday that the August/November soybean futures spread set its high for the year at $2.32. Basis levels for both soybeans and soymeal were...

Grain and soy prices, be they futures prices, cash basis levels or a combination of both, are tied closely to crop prospects as viewed by those who trade f...

Don't Cry for Geneva Pascal Lamy gave his farewell speech as he departs after nearly eight years of service as the WTO's director general. His departure me...

General CommentsThe corn and soy markets continued to sink into a bath of red ink, with enough of it splattering out on wheat to pull those markets down as...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Meat and Livestock View of RFS The Energy and Power subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held the first of what will be many hearings on...

SNAP – Heal Thyself U.S. aggies may rue the day that they acceded to House leaders the segregation of farm supports (500,000 beneficiary farms; 120,000 lar...

General Comments Rumors continue to swirl concerning a possible decision by Chinese authorities to sell up to 3 MMT of soybeans from the government's reser...

Soybean Pricing Dynamics Despite the common belief that Chinese soybean needs are primarily covered for August and September, there is still interest being...

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RUSSIAN GRAIN MARKET: 17-23 July 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 22 July, grain crops were harvested on 10.3 million hectares. The volume of the grain produc...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The trade is full of stories again this week concerning the wheat for electricity deal between Pakis...

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Argentine Farmers Holding Back Soybean Sales Argentina's farmers have been very reluctant to sell their crop because of high export taxes and a very low of...

WTO Risk of Farm Bill Both the Senate- and House-passed farm bills end direct payments, which are considered green box neutral under WTO rules, and instead...

General Comments Weather markets are notoriously fickle. Old crop/new crop inverses are treacherous especially as the actual time spread before the availab...

The outlook for U.S. wheat has been plagued by negatives of one sort or another for several years. One of the negatives has been falling and/or stagnant pr...

The Energy and Power subcommittee of the House Energy and Commerce Committee held the first of two marathon hearings on the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) t...

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General Comments The widespread rains that were supposed to cover the western Corn Belt missed. That should have meant much stronger openings Sunday evenin...

Virtually every weather forecaster and computer model run were putting big rains across all of the western Corn Belt last Friday. The problem was that over...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained unchanged from last week, with demand increasing at the current price level. Farmers are currently reluctant to...

The second quarter (April-May-June) initial Gross Domestic Product report will be out 31 July. The US economy grew at 1.1 percent in the fourth quarter of...

Congressional Hearing Winners and Losers A House Energy and Commerce subcommittee is the scene this week for what is being called a slugfest amongst all th...

Downturn in China's Feed Sales China's feed sales were lower in the first half of July compared to the same period in June. Hog feed consumption is down by...

Sour Grapes Outgoing WTO Director General Pascal Lamy has many good qualities but he showed his sour side this week. He complained about the big bilateral...

The December corn contract traded below $5.00 per bushel several times this week, but each day it was able to close with its nose just above the $5.00 surf...

General Comments Weather is what it is all about for the next several weeks and today's forecasts remained consistent with rain expected across much of the...

There isn't much fresh to talk about these days other than weather and potential U.S. corn and soybean yields. That is certainly a lot and, of course, extr...

Credit Exposure Squeezed to Help Rupee There is widespread concern about the fate that awaits the Indian rupee as it hurtles in free fall. The Reserve...

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Oklahoma) sent a memo entitled "Next Steps on 2013 Farm Bill" to the members of the committee on Tuesda...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

When Will New Soybean Yield Plateau Be Achieved? As someone who has been involved in the soybean sector for more than 30 years I have long been interested...

General Comments The elimination of price premiums, added to the value of corn and soybean futures over the last two weeks as protection against the risk o...

Pork Expansion in Fourth Quarter According to the most recent USDA Quarterly Hogs and Pigs report, March-May farrowings totaled 2.921 million litters, more...

Later this year, on 22 November to be precise, the 50th anniversary of the assassination of President John F. Kennedy will be remembered. On that date in 1...

Paraguay is Becoming a Big Commodity Player Paraguay is incorporating better technology in their farm practices and the results are evident as the producti...

General Comments The ongoing dispute between the EU and GFS weather models was tempered overnight when the latest EU model run shifted from its previous ho...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

RUSSIAN GRAIN MARKET: 10-16 July 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 15 July, grain crops were harvested on 7.8 million hectares. The volume of the grain produce...

Bears and Policy Although the discussion at a Kansas City Fed conference was framed as the shifting nexus in agriculture, it boiled down to how bearish sho...

It is mid-July which is usually the beginning of the "dog days of summer" in the U.S. The July WASDE has come and gone with the expected lack of major surp...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Massive overuse of antibiotics in the poultry industry in Africa and the Middle East is the major cause for...

A plethora of hot topics are on tap at a hearing tomorrow before the U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee on re-authorization of the Commodity Futures Trading...

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has scored the House farm bill as saving just more than $11 billion over 10 years.  That is about $7 billion les...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

General Comments The decline in corn and soybean weekly crop ratings gave a firm tone to overnight grain and soy trading activity aided by the early EU wea...

Large June NOPA Soy Crush Reaffirms Need for Price Rationing NOPA's crush report of yesterday indicated members crushed 119.05 million bushels of soybeans...

Since the House passed its farm-program-only version of the farm bill: Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) has stated that the Hous...

The crops are planted and doing quite well by most accounts.They are simply very late. There is no dome of doom in the immediate forecasts. Significant por...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea market remained unchanged from last week. The mood is still bearish and the buyers/consumers of the main Mediterranean importin...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Strong Precipitation Could Affect Corn Crops Crop growth in northern China's corn belt could be negatively impacted by the recent continuous rain. Most of...

General Comments Markets started the Sunday evening session slightly lower. That was expected following Friday's massive sell-off in soybeans and corn. The...

The House passed the farm-only bill yesterday as Gary Blumenthal reported. It needed 218 votes to pass, but the Speaker's chair gaveled the vote closed to...

Alternative Energy Roughhouse It was a smash-up week for alternative energy with more contradictory studies flying, legislative paring and mealy mouthed be...

USDA reports always keep you up at night and yesterday's numbers were no different. Here are a few items worth noting: U.S. hard red winter wheat (H...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

General Comments Markets were mixed overnight, but corn and soybeans turned decidedly bearish when they re-opened at 8:30 this morning. Evidently, the trad...

Wrong Moves Could Lead to Market Discrepancies Why would the Indian Ministry of Agriculture and Food want to hike import duties on pulses from a rate of ze...

Boehner Salvages Farm Bill Critics excoriated it, Democrats voted against it and President Obama made a grandstanding veto threat against it, but U.S House...

U.S. corn ending stocks for the current 2012/13 season (ending 31 August) were 729 million bushels. This figure was a reduction below USDA's June estimate...

U.S. Industry Joins Canadians in COOL Lawsuit A group of eight industry groups from the U.S. and Canada have filed a lawsuit in Washington D.C. The groups...

USDA released their July WASDE and Production reports at noon today and they offered no decisive advantage to either long or short traders. Slight adjustme...

Net Reductions in U.S. Soybean and Soyoil Export Sales Today's USDA export sales report indicated a net reduction in U.S. export sales of soybeans and soyo...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

General Comments It is the day before USDA's July WASDE, but it is the weather that continues to grip the market's attention. The high pressure ridge setti...

Renting Lands Becomes A Difficult Business Tight margins, higher costs, increasing tax pressure and bad results in the past two campaigns makes this busine...

Russian Grain Market: 3 July – 9 July 2013 Harvesting Updates According to the Russian Federation's Ministry of Agriculture, as of 3 July grain crops were...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Figuring U.S. Foreign Policy Bangladesh has a predominantly Muslim population of nearly 200 million people living on around $2,000 per capita of income per...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments Short covering, fund buying and old crop/new crop spread action were the dominant features of grain and soy markets today. Overnight tradi...

Former baseball great Yogi Berra, oft quoted for his malapropisms, once said, "if you come to a fork in the road, take it." That appears to be what the Hou...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS This week there were quite a few comments in the press and from various organizations on the grain situ...

Traders in commodity futures markets are always nervous, it goes with the territory. They are always fearful that something unforeseen will happen to harm...

Brazil Slightly Increases 2013 Soybean Crop Estimate The Brazilian commodity supply agency (Conab) today raised its forecast for the 2013 crop of soybeans...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market is under pressure because of the ongoing harvest and slow demand. The crop in Russia has been revised slightly dow...

In a normal summer, the 4 July holiday in the U.S. can be a significant time for the markets. It is especially true for corn, because in a normal summer a...

China Revising Supportive Procurement Policy for Grains China is revising its 10-year-old supportive procurement policy for grains. The new policy is expec...

General Comments Markets came back from the long weekend in a slightly better mood following Friday's sharply lower trade with a holiday-shortened thin tra...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

As we reported on 25 June, ethanol in Brazil is now cheaper than gasoline and that is creating a demand for ethanol. The latest data shows that the price o...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Indian Rupee Had Worst Regional Performance The Indian rupee (INR) had the worst performance in the region over the past 90 days with a depreciation rate o...

We've been following weather and crop planting in North Dakota for the past month because it has been so wet, especially across the northern third of the s...

General Comments Markets were closed for the holiday yesterday and opened at 8:30 this morning. Early calls were for lower openings, but the markets opened...

Yesterday, the Independence Day holiday, was a key milestone of the summer driving season. Driving mileage typically increases in the summer season from Me...

Spying Versus Observing President Obama rebuffed charges of U.S. spying on European missions for leverage in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partner...

Russian Grain Market: 26 June – 2 July 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 1 July, grain crops were harvested on 2.3 million hectares. The volume of the grain pr...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments There has been market discussion that China is making some selective wheat purchases to shore up stocks. USDA currently estimates that Chi...

Parana River Vessel Groundings Last week was quite problematic for vessels on the Parana River. Two vessels collided on the river, followed by the groundin...

Historically, a poultry producer could potentially risk a 20 percent increase in feed prices when corn was trading at $2.40/bushel, but a similar proportio...

Argentina Selling Soymeal Corn Blend in Vietnam According to a contact, Argentine exporters are offering a product in Vietnam that is called a balanced soy...

There has been a lot of commentary about the Fed hinting at phasing down quantitative easing (QE) since last week, when the Fed acknowledged it may be cons...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN and MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The Syrian government grain purchasing department (Hoboob) has reported that it purchased 550,000 MT of...

Threats and Other Silliness No threats, just opportunities. There are alternative ways to think about many things, including those perceived as threats. Th...

Horsemeat and Raw Milk USDA is allowing liberty in the marketplace by approving a New Mexico plant to move forward with the legal slaughter of horsemeat fo...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments Technical traders who observed the gap lower in December corn on Monday attempted to drive the contract down even more, but punching a hol...

General Comments Peculiar dynamics in commodity markets can sometimes stand out as red flags. The sole rally in the July corn contract last Friday was note...

We reported on Friday that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) is actively pursuing a plan to separate farm programs and nutrition programs into...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

CAP/Farm Bill; Similarities and Differences Tracking the similarities and differences between U.S. and European farm policy is a herky-jerky affair. The tr...

Agricultural Product Logistics Continuing Growth Despite Logistic Sector Slowdown The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) recently reported...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market is under pressure as the harvest is progressing and demand remains slow. Russian/Ukrainian wheat is the most compe...

General Comments USDA's Acreage report was considered bearish, but the quarterly Grain Stocks report was considered bullish for corn and soybeans. The resu...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Today was the big day for USDA Acreage and Grain Stocks reports, and "big" was the operative word for acreage. Corn, soybeans and wheat were all up, with c...

This year's farm bill became a showdown over nutrition spending and policy. Predictably, when the cost of the near-trillion-dollar farm bill was reported i...

Increased MSP to Boost Planting and Inflation Increased monsoon activity ensured that farmers planted their crops in time. The government had raised the mi...

Small Old Crop Soy Export Sales Last Week As expected, today's USDA Export Sales report revealed U.S. exporters only made small net export sales of soybean...

General Comments Tomorrow's USDA acreage and stocks reports command attention as they should. However, no matter what the reports say, it will not take mar...

TTIP Needs Coherence EU negotiators say that future Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations will be less burdened by the demands...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Pig Disease Spreading in the U.S. Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has been spreading across the U.S. since earlier this month, according to health a...

Long-time clients know that every so often we dust off that old and cliched law of market economics that declares, "the best cure for high prices is high p...

Approps as Farm Bill Mini The Obama Administration has threatened a veto of the FY 2014 appropriations bill moving through the Republican-controlled House...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Soybeans OLD CROP Brazilian old crop soybeans are almost complete. Two cargoes traded last week at +180 SQ CNF China. Demand is still good for August soybe...

General Comments Trading overnight provided mixed results with soybeans giving back Tuesday's gains while corn and wheat moved modestly higher -- just the...

Russian Grain Market: 17-25 June 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 24 June, grain crops were harvested on 510,600 hectares. The volume of the grain produced wa...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS There are only a few weeks to go until Ramadan in all Muslim countries, from about 9 July – 7 Aug...

Ethanol in the U.S. has hit the blend wall of 10 percent. The corn ethanol category alone, which is capped at 13.8 billion gallons, exceeds the 2013 10 per...

As surely everyone in the world must know by now, USDA will release a number of important reports on Friday, 28 June. These include USDA's survey-based est...

Canadian Farmers to Plant Less Canola, More Soybeans and Flax Statistics Canada today released its survey of the planting intentions of Canada's farmers. T...

General Comments Stats Canada's updated estimates on planted area as of 10 June were released today. They are as follows stated in millions of acres:Stats...

Cost of Being Late Japan has just found out that when it joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations next month in Malaysia, nearly half the chapter a...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Permanent Law Threat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is providing House Republican leaders with the message they need on the farm bill. He sai...

China's New Wheat Price Rises for Active Acquisition China's Ministry of Agriculture's latest release indicates approximately 17.47 million hectares of whe...

Milling Wheat The wheat market in the Black Sea was rather quiet last week. Market sentiment remains bearish, as weather development has been favorable for...

We have been arguing for a few months that world wheat production estimates for a 700-plus MMT world wheat crop are too large. USDA did trim its production...

General Comments The collapse in the equity markets around the world continued today as questions about liquidity continued to plague the markets. The U.S...

The Supreme Court will not hear a case against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to approve E15 fuel. At issue were EPA's testing m...

Mon 06/24/2013 3:00 PM Poultry Slaughter NASS4:00 PM Crop Progress NASS Tue 06/25/2013 9:00 AM Food Price Outlook ERS4:00 PM Weekly Weather and Crop Bullet...

General Comments Agricultural markets were wary of what transpired in the world's financial markets the past two days and traded very tentatively.  Tr...

Mandated Choice Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dineen, faced with a growing lobby against the ethanol mandate, asserted that one of the positive...

GEAC Issues New Permits to Allow GM Trials India's Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) finally has permitted a few companies and research instit...

Yesterday we wrote that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) called the management of the farm bill "major amateur hour." We also predicted th...

The overall mood of the markets has been so bearish over the past several months that it was somewhat refreshing to see at least one day, Wednesday, when s...

Mon 06/24/2013 3:00 PM Poultry Slaughter NASS4:00 PM Crop Progress NASS Tue 06/25/2013 9:00 AM Food Price Outlook ERS4:00 PM Weekly Weather and Crop Bullet...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Tomorrow is the USDA monthly Cattle on Feed report. The industry pre-report estimate is that placements in May will total 95.9 percent of May 2012 because...

Biotech in the Face Activists are working hard to pass bills at the state level requiring the labeling of biotech foods but the federal government today ce...

Today's unusual defeat in the U.S. House of a major farm bill proposal reflects many new dynamics, not the least of which is the urbanization of America.&n...

The House of Representatives today voted down the farm bill by a vote of 195-234. This is the first time in recent memory that a farm bill has failed. As c...

General Comments Grain and soy futures markets faced a triple whammy today. One part came from the fickle weather models. When the models portrayed an outl...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Exports have traditionally played an important role in the supply and demand outlook each year for the three most important (as measured by planted area) U...

Indian Vegoil Imports Continue to Rise India's imports of vegoils have continued to grow thus far in the 2012/13 marketing year, with palm oil accounting f...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

This morning the House brought up the rule governing debate on amendments to the farm bill. It was immediately met with a point of order, which was raised...

Corn ARGENTINE EXPORTERS CANCEL FAS CORN CONTRACTS Argentine exporters recently cancelled some FAS corn purchases because of delays delivering the product...

General Comments Trading volume overnight was better than average as grain and soy prices sampled both sides of yesterday's closes. After today, only six f...

Climate Smokescreen: Germans are said to treasure their privacy, and they are none too pleased with the recent revelation that the U.S. has been spying on...

Russian Grain Markets: 12-18 June 2013 Planting Updates As of 13 June, spring grain and leguminous crops were planted on 30.4 million hectares. This is 100...

Europeans Buy Indian Soymeal European importers have in the last few days purchased about 80,000 MT of Indian soymeal for importation in June and July. The...

Farm Bill Atmosphere The setup is not pretty. A divided U.S. House of Representatives, split between two parties and further fractured within the Republica...

The House Rules Committee is meeting today to report out a rule on which amendments to the Farm Bill will be ruled in order during the floor consideration,...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

General Comments Overnight price action for grains and soybeans was mostly higher in light-to-moderate volume in response to even higher old crop cash basi...

Never has the renewability of agricultural crop resources been better demonstrated than by the current prospects for U.S. corn and soybean production for 2...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Turkey looks to be having a very good year for grain crops, as wheat, barley and corn production are al...

China Conducts Soil Pollution Survey On 13 June, China's Ministry of Land and Resources announced that the government plans to conduct a nationwide survey...

General Comments There was not a lot of fresh news overnight and today for the grain and oilseed markets to trade. That was the case last Friday as well an...

Development ConundrumThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a report warning of the adverse impacts on the environment from economic develop...

USDA will publish in tomorrow's Federal Register two proposed actions to reduce the chance of sugar forfeitures. As USDA has noted, the May 2013 USDA WASDE...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Milling Wheat The sentiment in the trade is more and more bearish, as the harvest is already starting in the Southern parts of the EU, Ukraine and Russia,...

There have been many questions about the potential number of acres in North Dakota that will not get planted and, instead, go to Prevented Plant (PP) under...

The House of Representatives is preparing for the farm bill to come to the floor for debate next Wednesday. The House Rules Committee is meeting on Monday,...

Now that USDA has released its June WASDE numbers and U.S. winter wheat production estimates, the markets will have suffer to find bullish news until the 2...

General Comments It was a slow trading session with very little news to push prices either way. Argentina's farmers will start a five-day strike tomorrow...

Label Police: The British "consumer watchdog" group Which? has produced plenty of silly and, at least from a pure economics standpoint, illogical critiques...

India to Retain Top Slot for Meat Exports According to the Agricultural and Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA), the value of Indian meat...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Earlier this week we declared 10 June to be National Swaps Day. Banking institutions that are not otherwise considered swaps dealers or major swaps partici...

WASDE, Mid-Year Change in Trends USDA's June WASDE contained some trends that deviate from beginning-of-the-year expectations. Total meat production in 201...

TTIP Long-View: The likely lengthy negotiation period for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact (TTIP) is now looking even longer. Already the effort w...

General Comments Helped along by yesterday's bearish WASDE, trader sentiment has rapidly shifted from concern about late planting to the assumption that "r...

No Major Changes to USDA Soybeans Supply and Demand Forecast USDA made only a few changes to its supply and demand forecasts for soybeans yesterday, and al...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Pivotal TTIP/TPP Moment: The EU Council will vote Friday on the negotiation mandate to be used in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact (TTIP) with t...

General Comments THE JUNE WASDE As expected, USDA's June WASDE contains no major surprises, but its overall tone is bearish. There were a few minor surpris...

Russian Grain Markets: 5 June - 11 June 2013 Planting Updates As of 6 June, spring grain crops were planted on 30.2 million hectares. This is 99.8 percent...

Upcoming Campaign Situation Farming in Argentina currently is not having an easy time of it, as the increased production costs have complicated farmers' pr...

General Comments Grain and soy markets were lightly traded overnight, and they lacked much in the way of price direction. Traders are very much aware of to...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS A recent study on Saudi Arabia has determined that the country will have to remain dependent on other c...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

The Senate passed the farm bill last night by a vote of 66-27. Seven Senators did not vote. Only two Democrats, Senators Jake Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse (...

Without doubt, import safeguards, as practiced by many countries, are a frustration for the world's food exporters. Some of that frustration compelled USTR...

China Approves Three Biotech Soybean Events Argentina's Agriculture Minister Norberto Yauhar said China has approved three additional biotech soybean event...

Whenever problems become large enough or important enough to attract national attention -- or at least the attention of the national press -- politicians a...

Milling Wheat The weather in Eastern Europe is favorable for the development of winter wheat. After the recent rains in Ukraine and southern Russia, the ma...

Contaminated Rice May Result in More Imports Rice in Hunan, China's largest rice-producing province, was found to contain excessive amounts of cadmium. New...

Swimming Around for Profits All proteins are in demand, but aquaculture holds a unique and very bright future in global markets. Growth Areas for Global Oi...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Comical Trade Input: Many mainstream agricultural groups have submitted comments to U.S. trade negotiators on their desired objectives in the transatlantic...

General Comments We've been in a weather market, and the problem has been too much rain and delayed planting across the United States. It was wet across th...

It is June, halfway through CY 2013, and thus far no required volume obligations (RVOs) have been set for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The U.S. Envir...

USDA will release its June supply and demand estimates (WASDE) this Wednesday at 11 a.m. CDT. Those who might be looking for big changes in acreage or yiel...

The House Appropriations subcommittee marked up the FY 2014 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies appropriatio...

Poultry Industry May Not Grow as Expected India's poultry industry showed steady growth over the last few years. Hatcheries placed 15 million broilers per...

New crop markets have had an overwhelmingly bearish attitude. This started back in February with the USDA's Outlook Conference projections for big planted...

General Comments Weather during weekends in June typically is involved in futures price direction. This upcoming weekend is an example, as Midwestern farme...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Land Options: While the U.S. harvests cereals from about 35 percent of its arable land and Brazil crops grain and oilseeds on around 26 percent of its arab...

There is an old cliché to the effect that "rain makes grain." The truth of this cannot be disputed. Adequate and timely rainfall is essential to the develo...

The Senate today invoked cloture on the farm bill, meaning that debate is now limited to 30 hours. That limit should pare the number of amendments offered...

Unsteadying U.S.-Mexico Meat Trade Mexico is a major supplier of feeder cattle to the United States. This is an important role given the fact that the U.S...

Patri Oikonomia: London's Daily Telegraph reports that Pope Francis criticized consumerism and said that, "Throwing away food is like stealing from the tab...

Argentine Farmers Considering Sales Stoppage as Protest Argentina's farm groups are considering implementing a strike in the next couple of months during w...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

General Comments Perhaps the biggest story coming from today's markets has to do with the rapid decline of the U.S. dollar against every other major curren...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Soybeans Soybean basis levels continued to drop, and there seems to be no end in sight. After trading mid-June at +30 SN for July shipment, basis collapsed...

General Comments The pessimism about further planting delays for corn, soybeans and spring wheat generated by last weekend's heavy rains and the lingering...

Some are likely calling Ernest Barnes, a wheat farmer in Kansas, an opportunistic ambulance chaser. He is suing Monsanto because last week's discovery of b...

Russian Grain Markets: 28 May – 4 June 2013 Planting Updates As of 3 June, spring grain crops were planted on 27.4 million hectares, which is 90.6 percent...

The Senate resumed consideration of the farm bill yesterday and adopted two amendments.The 2012 Senate farm bill pitted northern crops against southern cro...

Last Friday we took a look at the delayed planting progress and zeroed in on North Dakota. Yesterday Bob Kohlmeyer wrote about weather and planting from a...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Turkish crop production estimates for 2013 show the following: 7.9 MMT of barley, 5.0 of MMT corn and 2...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Argentina Lowers Soymeal Protein Guarantee Argentina's oilseed processing association (CIARA) recently notified all of the country's buyers of soymeal that...

General Comments There was light selling across the agricultural markets overnight and throughout today's trading session. Only July corn futures and July...

Playing Fair in Wheat and Cars: Japanese officials say they are blocking U.S. white wheat as a "precautionary" measure because they don't have a way to ins...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) circulated a memo on Friday outlining the upcoming schedule for the House in June. Upon returning tomorrow,...

General Comments A pretty good way to describe today's grain and soy futures market is simply to point out that corn futures prices traded in a 21- to 25-c...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Mother Nature certainly can give good weather, but she can also take it away. She has done some of both recently. She ignored Mike Krueger's plea in this r...

China Aims to Rebrand Domestic Dairy Industry According to the China Dairy Association, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) expects t...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market was actively trading last week. The weather in Ukraine and southern Russia has been favorable during the last two...

General Comments The soy complex was firm overnight, and that "firmness" turned to outright strength as the day wore on. It was a puzzling market for those...

Weak Rupee: Good for Exports , Bad for Imports The Indian rupee this week declined to a 10-month low. It was the weakest Asian currency against the U.S. do...

Today is 31 May. This is an important crop insurance date because it is the "drop-dead" date for crop insurance planting in many states, especially in the...

The Senate will reconvene on Monday, 3 June and resume the farm bill debate. It will vote on the Moran amendment and the Coons-Johanns amendment.Alfalfa: W...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Rushing to Judgment: The discovery of some glyphosate-resistant wheat in an Oregon farm field prompted the EU to request the detection protocol from Monsan...

Russian Export Updates As of 22 May, Russia exported 14.9 MMT of grain since the beginning of MY 2012/13. Grain exports made during 1-22 May amounted to 32...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

In yesterday's market commentary we noted (as did Gary Blumenthal in his policy comments) that the owners of the largest Chinese meat packing company, Shua...

Corn Argentina exported 2.9 MMT of corn in April and 2.5 MMT in March. Approximately 3 MMT will be exported in May, and we can expect about 3 MMT of corn e...

Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the world, has been bought by China's largest meat producer, Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. Shuanghui...

General Comments In overnight trading, grain and soy futures prices moved back and forth on both sides of the previous closes. Volume was fairly good even...

South America Soy Headed to the U.S. Last week there were reports from Brazil that eight to 10 cargoes of soybeans and/or soymeal had been booked to ship t...

Xenophobic Hogwash: Shuanghui International's purchase of U.S. meatpacking giant Smithfield has brought out all the xenophobic anti-business lunatics. Ther...

General Comments The question of whether the recent rain makes grain or reduces planted corn acreage is being debated, but determining the answer to the qu...

Russian Grain Markets: 20-28 May 2013 Planting Updates As of May 27, spring grain crops were planted on 23.1 million hectares, including 8.5 million hectar...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

EU Formally Imposes AD Duties on Biodiesel As expected, the EU today formally imposed anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia...

When Congress reconvenes on 3 June, the Senate farm bill debate is likely to turn to ethanol and biofuel issues related to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS...

General Comments Surprisingly heavy rain fell across parts of Iowa, Illinois and the northern Corn Belt over the long weekend as a frontal system stalled o...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS A Lebanese company announced that it will invest up to $800 million in agricultural projects in Sudan t...

Next autumn, when we look back at the 2013/14 U.S. corn and soybean crops and the cash and futures markets, we just might conclude that the last full week...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments Markets will be closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.Markets were relatively quiet in the overnight session on limited volume ahe...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

The Senate met today in pro forma session and will not reconvene until Monday, 3 June after the Memorial Day recess. When the Senate does come back on 3 Ju...

Crop Insurance Challenge: Any angst over a U.S. Senate vote to reduce crop insurance benefits to the top 1 percent richest farmers seems overdone. Amendmen...

Indian Grain Exports Wheat prices have rallied at market yards, exceeding $286/MT on the exchange and reaching $282/MT for the spot price in Delhi. The gov...