BASIC & RECENT MARKET INFO

Tidbits Flash Sale:  Yesterday, the USDA reported sales of 136,000 mts of old crop corn to South Korea. Annual U.S. retail inflation  was reported at 2.8% in February, the same pace as in the previous month and matching expectations. Core annual inflation excluding food and energy was 3%, down from 3.1% in the prior month. Both remain well above the Federal Reserve's 2% target. U.S. initial jobless claims  rose to 219,000 on the week ending April 4th, higher than was expected

CBOT 10 Minutes After The April S&D Report May corn -4 Dec Corn -3 May beans +2 Nov Benas +1 July CBOT wheat -10 July KC wheat -9 Sept Spring wheat -5    Above prices were just slightly weaker after the report than before the report.     Biggest news is soybean exports were reduced by 35 million bushels, but soybean crush was increased by the same amount. No changes in South A merican crop sizes.

Tidbits Iran: The two week cease fire between Iran versus Israel and the U.S. is very fragile and most likely will collapse. Iran claims Israel has already broken the agreement. Many countries claim Iran has also broken the agreement. The Strait of Hormuz remained shut to vessels sailing without a permit and shippers said they needed more clarity before resuming transit. Marine Traffic data ⁠showed two Greek-owned and two Chinese-owned bulk carriers passed through the strait

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), also for inputs like fuel and fertilizer for past week Wednesday to Tuesday. Read about our approach to this report . 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 t

Tidbits Crude oil  prices drop and stocks rally after Trump’s ceasefire announcement. China intervened at the last minute and persuaded Iran to agree to a two-week ceasefire, The New York Times reported, citing Iranian officials. Still, the ceasefire hasn't really clarified anything when it comes to the Strait of Hormuz. Some, maybe most of the reason for the weakness of corn and soybean markets is the fear of Thursday’s monthly S&D, which is typical every month. Brazil soy h

Tidbits Budgeting: Progressive Farmer reported that President Donald Trump’s proposed budget for USDA again calls for making a nearly 20% cut to discretionary programs. The top line for the president’s budget released Friday is a $1.5 trillion request for Defense spending, while proposing to cut about $660 billion in non-military spending across the federal government. U.S. agriculture equipment  maker Deere on ​Monday agreed to pay $99 million into a settlement fund for ‌ fa

Corn Market Summary Corn, wheat, and soybean futures usually trade to their highest price of the year between late April and late June.   Every Wednesday we send you an email entitled Weekly Summary & Recommendations (link in the section below) in which we discuss the technical outlook, fundamental outlook, seasonal price trend, and profitability of the current price. Given the new information from the USDA with 2026 acres, the quarterly stocks information and the latest weat

It's our weekly U.S. grain market analysis and outlook for corn, soybeans and wheat, including traders positioning, basis bids tracking, crush margins, weekly news wrap-up and comments. The Dow Jones Index settled on Friday at 46,505, +1,338 points for the week. Crude oil settled at $112.06, +12.42. Dollar Index settled at 100.19, steady. Baltic Dry Index (a shipping freight-cost index) settled at 2,066, +35. Corn May futures settled at $4.52¼, -9¾¢ for the week. December cor

Tidbits Iran: U.S. officials confirmed Friday morning that an American aircraft, probably an F-15E Strike Eagle, was shot down by Iranian forces. One of the two crewmen was recovered and the search continues for the second crew member. A second aircraft, an A-10 Warthog, was shot yesterday over the Persian Gulf, but the pilot was able to reach Kuwait to bail out and was recovered.   A major highway bridge in Tehran was destroyed by U.S. military aircraft on Friday.     Late y

Tidbits Baker Hughes  reported there were 548 oil and gas drilling rigs in operation last week in the USA. That is 5 more than last week but 42 fewer than a year ago. Canada had 142 rigs drilling this past week, which was 11 fewer than a week ago and 11 fewer than a year ago. Worldwide, there were 1058 rigs drilling at the end of March, 54 fewer than the previous month and 37 fewer than a year ago.      CGB at Gladstone Bluff, Illinois  (on The River) Friday evening compared

Tidbits Markets & Premiums: Yesterday was a very disappointing day for grain futures as the sharply higher crude oil could only rally corn, wheat, and beans very modestly. Even though soybean oil settled sharply higher and May bean oil was up 1.86¢ a pound, May soybeans were down 5¢. May soybean meal was lower, but only $3 a ton. For a bushel of beans yesterday, the value of the 11½ pounds of oil per bushel increased 21.35¢ and the 48 pounds of meal per bushel decreased by 7.

Tidbits The agriculture futures  markets will be closed Friday, but banks, postal workers, and the government will be working. Futures markets will close at normal time today and open at normal time Easter Sunday. The CBOT prices were pressured yesterday by sharply lower crude oil and prospects for the U.S. to end its participation in persecuting the war against Iran. Corn and beans recovered nicely before the close, but wheat did not recover as badly needed rain is expected

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), also for inputs like 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, cha

Highlights The acres of corn expected to be planted is 95.3 million acres, down 3.45 million (3.5%) from 2025, but about 900,000 more than the market expected. Soybeans acreage is projected to be up 3.5 million (4%) from last year to 84.7 million acres, but about 750,000 less than the market expected. All wheat acreage is estimated at 43.8 million acres, 1.55 million or 3% below 2025 and the lowest wheat acreage since records began in 1919. Winter wheat planted area at 32.4 m

Tidbits Planting Intentions and Quarterly Stocks  reports will be released by the USDA today at 11 AM Central. Here is the May futures price change on the reports release days in previous years:

Tidbits Tomorrow at 11 AM Central time the USDA will release the Planting Intentions for 2026 crops and the Grain Stocks as of 1 March. This is probably the second most important USDA reporting day of the year (after June Stocks and Planted Acreage reports).    Uruguay:  Santiago Fernández Camacho is the Managing Director of The Trade Bridge Group of Montevideo, Uruguay, which borders Brazil to the north and Argentina to the west.    We asked Santiago to give an update on agr

It's our weekly U.S. grain market analysis and outlook for corn, soybeans and wheat, including traders positioning, basis bids tracking, crush margins, weekly news wrap-up and comments. The Dow Jones Index settled on Friday at 45,167, -411 points for the week. Crude oil settled at $99.64, +1.55. Dollar Index settled at 100.19, +0.69. Baltic Dry Index (a shipping freight-cost index) settled at 2,031, -25. Corn May futures settled at $4.62, -3½¢ for the week. December corn sett

Tidbits The CO2 Coalition  was established in 2015 for the purpose of educating leaders, policy makers, and the public about the important contribution made by carbon dioxide to our lives and the economy. The Coalition seeks to engage in an informed and dispassionate discussion of climate change, humans’ role in the climate system, the limitations of climate models, and the consequences of mandated reductions in CO2 emissions.   The CO2 Coalition’s Climate Change’s Real Story

Tidbits Biofuel:  In an apparent classic buy the rumor and sell the fact event, just before the grain futures went from higher to lower yesterday, the EPA announced its 2026 and 2027 biofuel blending volumes. As expected, the renewable fuel volume requirements for this and next calendar year are the highest levels in program history. The EPA will maintain the 15 billion conventional gallons biofuel level. Flash sale: Yesterday morning, the USDA announced the sale of 105,000 m

Tidbits Iran: President Trump announced in a post yesterday that he was extending the deadline for a deal with Iran until 8 PM Eastern Time on 6 April at the request of the Iranian Government because talks are ongoing and going very well, despite erroneous statements to the contrary. Some sources are saying the chances of success in achieving a ceasefire remain low, as Iran and the United States are making demands that are unacceptable to each other. China: President Trump an