Grain Marketing Education, News & Strategies

Tidbits Flash Sales: Yesterday, the USDA announced the sale of 252,000 mts of new crop soybeans to unknown. China's Soybean Auctions: China's Sinograin auctioned 504,000 metric tons (18.5 million bushels) of imported soybeans on Friday. They sold roughly half of the offered volume in its largest reserve auction since January. Sold beans moved into commercial channels, and Sinograin has scheduled another auction of 501,158 metric tons for Wednesday, involving soybeans produced

Tidbits Given the news, if November beans do not trade above the May high of $12.14 today, it is not going to happen. Doug Meyer of Southeast Nebraska wrote on Saturday afternoon: "The I-29 corridor from Southeast Nebraska to Southwest Iowa to Fargo from Saturday to Saturday: I’ve never seen corn and soybeans go backwards so fast. Going to be interesting to see what tip back takes off yield if it rains soon. Corn is toast in a week without it." 247AG Sunday Afternoon: He

Tidbits Weather: Contrary to most private forecasts, the National Weather Service and 247AG predicted Saturday evening that extreme heat will return next weekend to the Central and Western Corn Belt with normal rainfall amounts. Ukraine: There are rumors that corn and wheat exporters in Ukraine will declare force majeure in Ukraine due to war damage to their grain handling equipment. “Force majeure” is a term used in contracts allowing either party to legally break th

Rolling HTA Contracts A client came up short on bushels to fill a July HTA contract for June delivery. The merchandiser suggested the client roll the portion of the undelivered bushels from July to November and deliver the bushels this fall. Our client agreed. He was surprised to learn his new November HTA price was higher than his July HTA. He asked how that could happen? The gain or loss on the roll from July to November has nothing to do with the price of the July HTA, w

Tidbits Acres: Matt Bennet of Agmarket.net expects actual planted corn acres to be less than the March Intentions due to high fertilizer prices, supply challenges, and excessive moisture across regions of the United States. However, the firm says rallying corn prices during the spring kept the reduction from being more significant. Bennett says any acres lost in corn most likely shifted directly to soybeans. The firm believes combined corn and soybean acres are at 180.2 milli

Tidbits Brazil: Safras & Mercado lowered their Brazilian corn production forecast 200,000 mts to 139.9 million mts, still slightly above the USDA estimate of 138 million mts. IMEA reports the 2nd corn harvest in Mato Grosso has reached 21% vs. only 14% a year ago, however behind the historical average of 23%. AgRural reports that across Brazil 2nd crop harvest has reached 16% just above the year ago pace of 13%. Argentine corn harvest has reached 48% while the Buenos Aires Gr

Tidbits Brazilian AgrInvest Commodities reported on 6 June: The recent highlight is the change in the exchange rate, which has gained momentum and become the main variable of attention. The appreciation of the dollar improves export parity and may limit further declines in the domestic market, especially if combined with possible reactions in Chicago, firmer oil prices, or weather risks in the US. Thus, although the current scenario is still one of adjustment, the market is o

Tidbits Basis & FOB: Yesterday, we reported to you corn prices at New Orleans, Louisiana (NOLA) and corn at the Pacific Northwest (PNW) ports were the same FOB price, namely $220 per mt. We cannot remember a time when FOB in the PNW was equal to FOB at NOLA. The prices are the same this year because the cost of rail freight to the PNW from the Midwest is covered by the extremely weak basis in the Upper Midwest compared to the Eastern Corn Belt and river outlets coupled with t

Tidbits Beef: President Donald Trump signed an executive order Friday aimed at making beef more affordable for Americans by increasing the allowable imports of lean beef trimmings from Argentina. The executive order, titled Ensuring Affordable Beef for the American Consumer, temporarily increases the import quota quantity of lean beef trimmings under the U.S. tariff-rate quota by 80,000 metric tons, allocating the additional volume entirely to Argentina. U.S. Basis: GraInfor

Tidbits December oats settled 12 cents lower Monday. Oats are a feed grain and so is corn. Oats knows! Сrop progress estimates were released by Reuters as of 10/26/25: the corn harvest is estimated at 72% with a range of 67-80%, soybean harvest at 84% complete with a range of 80-88%, and winter wheat planting 84% complete with a range of 81-89%. Dr. Michael Cordonnier left his U.S. corn and soybean yield estimates unchanged at 181 bpa and 52 bpa respectively. He projects the

Free DP for Soybeans From Reuters News: In an unusual offer during the peak of autumn harvesting, ADM is allowing farmers to deliver soy to its facility in Decatur, Illinois, and set the final sale price later, without paying for storage, the two sources said. In exchange, ADM will take ownership of the soybeans, enabling it to process the crops, they added. ADM’s offer, known as free deferred pricing, will be available to farmers until the end of October, and those who p

Tidbits Corn basis continues to firm. Dan reported Heritage Coop in West Central Ohio firmed from -45Z (45¢ under Dec futures) last Friday, to -40Z on Monday, to -37Z yesterday. More than half the corn is still in the field in that area where yields are not as good as expected in early August, but above average. Agronomists have identified the area west of Galesburg, Illinois, including communities of Alexis, Joy, Monmouth, Kirkwood, etc., as the Tarspot Ground Zero of the Co

Tidbits Politics and economics: Thursday evening, the U.S. Senate passed its version of the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) for Fiscal Year 2026. It authorizes $913.9 billion in defense spending. The NDAA sets policy and funding priorities for the Department of Defense (or War), including modernization of military capabilities, support for service members, and enhancements to national security technologies. It now heads to the conference committee for reconciliation

Tidbits S&D: The USDA is not expected to release the October WASDE report tomorrow, but trade estimates were collected. The average estimate for U.S. corn production is 16.632 billion bushels with the yield of 184.8 bpa. The September WASDE report showed corn production at 16.814 billion bushels with a yield of 186.7 bpa. U.S. soybean production's average estimate is 4.267 billion bushels with a yield at 53.1 bpa, compared to 4.301 billion bushels and 53.5 bpa in September. U

Tidbits Farm aid: The Trump administration is expected to announce a plan as soon as Tuesday to bail out U.S. farmers stung by trade disputes and big harvests, with the initial outlay potentially totaling up to $15 billion. The plan, however, could be difficult to roll out as an ongoing government shutdown prevents the kind of Congressional action needed to approve such a large payout, and existing government reserves fall short. Analysts estimate U.S. corn harvest was 29% co

Tidbits Basis Bids: On Thursday, St. Louis basis changes were: Soybean -12X (12¢ under November futures), was 10¢, the strongest level since August 13th. Corn 8¢ firmer to 4 over the December futures price. Soft Red Winter wheat was up 16¢ at -17Z (17¢ under December futures price). The Lower Mississippi is expected to drop below 8 feet by next Friday. President Trump and Chinese President Xi are scheduled to meet on 31 October. Crude oil: With crude oil refinery runs red

Tidbits Basis bids: With all the recent talk about shallow water on the Lower Mississippi reducing barge capacity and increasing the cost of freight, we were surprised to learn that the soybean basis on the Lower River actually firmed 6 to 7¢ last week. Even more surprising is the soybean basis on the Upper Mississippi firmed 11 to 22¢ yesterday! What do they know that we do not know? Our guess is they know China will be buying U.S. soybeans. Rapid harvest progress, no China

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

Tidbits Today is the day that all August futures positions and basis contracts must be liquidated before the close and the Federal Reserve will announce its decision about interest rates about the time the CBOT grain quits trading. Iowachill.com reported maximum wind speed Monday night/Tuesday morning: U.S. and Chinese officials agreed to seek an extension of their 90-day tariff truce after two days of talks in Stockholm, with no major breakthroughs announced. The decision no

Tidbits Multiple weather forecasters stated yesterday conditions were forming that could produce a Derecho last night from Central South Dakota southeast through Iowa into Illinois. Yesterday morning, the USDA announced the sale of: 35,000 mt of old crop corn to unknown 194,000 mts of new crop corn to unknown 225,000 mts of new crop corn to Mexico. US and Chinese officials met Monday in Sweden, trying to agree to extend the trade truce that is set to expire August 12. T