BASIC & RECENT MARKET INFO

Tidbits Ukrainian President Zelensky and U.S. President Trump expressed hope that their White House summit yesterday with European leaders could eventually result in trilateral talks with President Putin over ending Russia’s war on Ukraine. Meanwhile, the war continues with no end in sight. Flash sale: Yesterday morning, the USDA announced the sale of 124,000 mts of new crop corn to unknown. Pesticides: The Make America Healthy Again Commission expects to recommend no actions

Tidbits The 33rd Annual Pro Farmer Crop Tour begins today and will end on Thursday. It will provide some definitive information about pollination and ear fill. The same routes are covered every year, which means the value of this tour is determined by yield comparison with previous years, not the USDA August numbers. Call options: We discussed yesterday the pros and cons of buying March 2026 corn $4.20 strike price call for 20½¢. The March $5.00 call has a premium (value,

It's our weekly US grain market prices analysis and outlook for corn, soybeans and wheat. Dow Jones Industrial Average Index settled on Friday at 44,946, +771 points for the week. Crude oil settled at $63.14, -0.21. Dollar Index settled at 97.84, -0.43. Baltic Dry Index (a shipping freight-cost index) settled at 2,044, -7. Corn September futures settled at $3.83¾, +1¢ for the week. December futures settled at $4.05¼, -¼¢ for the week. Basis (U = September; e.g. 10N means 10¢

Tidbits Russia-Ukraine: On the surface, Trump’s meeting with President Putin was a total failure. Trump had said he wanted a cease fire in Russia’s war with Ukraine and a framework for a lasting peace. The culture of Eastern Europe and a lack of a Ukrainian representative made Trump’s goals highly unlikely. The anti-Trumper news media is jumping all over this failure. However, Trump and Putin showed friendliness and mutual respect at their press conference. Trump was asked to

Tidbits Trump and Putin talked for 2 hours and 45 minutes yesterday afternoon in Alaska. After the meeting, they held a press conference where they said there was no deal made, but a lot of progress was made. Trump said he will contact European leaders and Ukraine’s President Zelensky to fully brief them on the details discussed, there would be preparations for a three side meeting between Ukraine, Russia and the United States, and the Ukraine should make a deal. Trump said h

Tidbits Inflation: The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the July producer price index (PPI) increased 0.9% from June, the largest one month advance since pandemic consumer inflation peaked in June 2022. The market was expecting a 0.2% increase. Many economists and politicians say the increased pace of inflation at the wholesale level of the economy reflects the cost of Trump's tariffs. In any case, wholesale inflation will soon find its way into the retail market as w

Tidbits Corn: Karen Braun was correct when she reported yesterday that U.S. corn stocks-to-use ratio at 13.3%, is the lowest for an August USDA projection in three years despite a yield 9.8 bushels above the previous record on the largest corn acreage since 1936. That is quite a testament to the magnitude of the corn demand. Ukraine: Reuters reported last evening that European leaders and Ukraine's President Zelenskiy spoke with Trump in a last-ditch call hosted by Germa

Grain market summary of price outlook, seasonal situation, fundamental & technical analysis with our recommendations for corn, soybeans and wheat (Soft Red Winter, Hard Red Winter & Spring), fuel and fertilizer for past week Wednesday to Tuesday. Read about our approach to this report here. We provide three different marketing plans (in order of decreasing our preference). The marketing decision is yours to make, obviously you can mix those plans, change the sales size or add

S&D Report Comment The biggest surprise on yesterday’s USDA S&D was the 2.1 million increase in corn planted acres and the decrease of 2.5 million acres of soybeans. The adjustment was made primarily as a result of the FSA certified acreage totals being available. This is the third consecutive year the FSA had the certified acreage paperwork completed before the August S&D. Always before, the certified acreage numbers were not available until September. There is probably no

The numbers were: Bearish Corn Yield was 188.8. That was higher than the highest estimate Corn acres were increased 2.1 million Bullish...

Tidbits S&D: Today at 11AM Central time the USDA will release its monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, which is known as WASDE or just S&D and includes U.S. estimates. The key numbers will be corn and soybean yields for the 2025 crops and changes in demand for old and new crops. The market expects record corn yield by more than 5 bushels per acre and a record bean yield by almost a full bushel. Most market analysts say soybeans were sharply higher ye

Tidbits Export Markets by Eduardo Vanin of AgrInvest Commodities Saturday 9 August 2025: Soybean Premiums (basis) Continue to Rise, Brazilian Corn Can't Compete This past week the soybean market was marked by intense demand from China, which purchased more than 40 vessels. This strong demand is driving up premiums for Brazilian soybeans, making them increasingly expensive and difficult to trade, not only due to rising prices but also due to logistical challenges and a lack

It's our weekly US grain market prices analysis and outlook for corn, soybeans and wheat. Dow Jones Industrial Average Index settled on Friday at 44,176, +587 points for the week. Crude oil settled at $63.35, -3.91. Dollar Index settled at 98.27, -0.42. Baltic Dry Index (a shipping freight-cost index) settled at 2,051, +33. Corn September futures settled at $3.82¾, -6¾¢ for the week. December futures settled at $4.05½, -5¼¢ for the week. Basis (U = September; e.g. 10N means 1

Tidbits Trade estimates for USDA's August S&D on Tuesday: President Trump will meet President Putin in Alaska this Friday to discuss tariffs, sanctions, ending the war, etc. Baker Hughes reported there were 539 oil and gas drilling rigs in operation last week in the USA. That is 1 less than a week ago and 49 fewer than a year ago. Canada had 180 rigs drilling this past week, 3 more than the previous week, but 37 fewer than a year ago.

Tidbits Yesterday morning the USDA announced the sale of 125,000 mts of new crop corn to unknown. Relationship of the U.S. dollar exchange rate and grain prices Conventional wisdom is the exchange rate of the dollar is a major factor in the sale of U.S. products to foreign buyers and it most certainly is. For example, Japan used to be the number one importer of U.S. agricultural products for decades before the emergence of China, Mexico, and Canada as big buyers, but Japan is

Tidbits Corn: The corn market got two news items yesterday morning to encourage some serious buying of corn futures. USDA weekly export sales report yesterday morning showed corn sales were fifth highest weekly sales of all time. Three of the four higher weekly corn sales included large quantities sold to China in the fall of 2021. Soybean and wheat export sales were also above the top of the range of pre-report estimates. That takes the total new crop sales to 11.777 millio

Tidbits Basis: Delphos, Ohio Bunge soybean crush plant weakened their fall delivery basis by 5¢ to -35X (35¢ under November futures) on Monday or Tuesday. Producers Ag’s Canton, Kansas facility weakened their fall delivery corn basis by 5¢ to -35Z (35¢ under December) yesterday as did Cargill at its corn syrup plant in Dayton, Ohio to -25Z. If you have not made a decision about setting fall delivery basis, make it today. That does not mean you should blindly set the basis o

Grain market summary of price outlook, seasonal situation, fundamental & technical analysis with our recommendations for corn, soybeans and wheat (Soft Red Winter, Hard Red Winter & Spring), fuel and fertilizer for past week Wednesday to Tuesday. Read about our approach to this report here. We provide three different marketing plans (in order of decreasing our preference). The marketing decision is yours to make, obviously you can mix those plans, change the sales size or add

Tidbits Flash sale: Yesterday morning, the USDA announced the sale of 128,000 mts of new crop corn to unknown. Oils: Karen Braun reported that the U.S. cooking oil imports fell to a 16-month low in June, but first half 2025 used cooking oil imports were up 9% from a year ago. Starting January 2026, only biofuel feedstock from Canada, Mexico, and the U.S. will be eligible for the tax credits. North America soybean oil and canola oil will be the main feedstock for biofuels and

Tidbits Crude & palm oil: India’s top crude refiners did not purchase any crude from Russia last week after President Trump threatened secondary tariffs on the buyers of Russian products. However, alternative crude sources were so few, the Indians decided to off-load more than 3 million barrels of Russia’s flagship Urals grade over the weekend. Bloomberg reports that Indian Prime Minister Modi did not instruct local oil refineries to stop purchasing Russian oil and did not ma