Grain Marketing Education, News & Strategies

Tidbits Iran rejected a U.S. ceasefire proposal and maintained attacks on Israel and Gulf Arab states, Reuters reported. Trump’s 15-point peace plan stipulated that the Islamic Republic dismantle its main nuclear facilities and use a reduced missile arsenal in self-defense only. Iran would get certain concessions in return, including sanctions relief. Iran wants guarantees that the U.S. and Israel will not resume attacks, alongside reparations for war damages and recognition

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, change

Highlights Biofuel: Jarrett Renshaw is a White House reporter for Reuters with a focus on energy policy. He reported late yesterday afternoon: “The Trump administration will release biofuel quotas 2026/27 this week, sometime before Friday's farm event at White House. The quotas have not been materially changed by Iran war price spike concerns, I'm told.” Later yesterday, Renshaw reported: “Trump is expected to waive summer gasoline blending rules - pave way for summer E15 sal

Highlights: Iran Shortly after 6 AM Central time yesterday morning, Trump wrote on Truth Social that Iran and the U.S. had engaged in “good and productive conversations regarding a complete and total resolution” of the hostilities. Consequently, Trump wrote that he had ordered the Department of War to postpone all military strikes against Iranian power plants and energy infrastructure for five days. That sent crude oil down $10 and CBOT markets went from smartly higher to low

Tidbits Iran & Crude oil: Saturday evening, President Trump posted on Truth Social stating: “If Iran doesn’t fully open, without threat, the Strait of Hormuz, within 48 HOURS from this exact point in time, the United States of America will hit and obliterate their various power plants, starting with the biggest one!” Iran responded yesterday it will move to shut down the entire Strait of Hormuz if President Donald Trump follows through with his threats and that any companie

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 45,577, -981 points for the week. Crude oil settled at $98.09, -1.22. Dollar Index settled at 99.5, -1.00. Baltic Dry Index (a shipping freight-cost index) settled at 2,056, +28. Corn May futures settled at $4.65½, -1¾¢ for the week. December corn settl

Tidbits Crude oil: Late Friday, President Trump issued a 30-day sanctions waiver for the purchase of Iranian oil already at sea, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said. The waiver applies to oil loaded on any vessel, including sanctioned tankers, on or before 20 March and unloaded by 19 April, according to the Office of Foreign Assets Control. It is the third time the U.S. has temporarily waived sanctions on oil since the start of the war. U.S. Energy Secretary Chris Wrig

Tidbits Iran has adopted a strategy to undermine the global economic system to force the U.S. and Israel to stop their attacks. Iran has repeatedly attacked refineries and oil fields across the Middle East and has succeeded to seal the Strait of Hormuz to keep crude oil, natural gas, and fertilizer from flowing into the world marketplace. The longer the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the more likely the lack of fertilizer will produce food shortages around the world. Iran

Tidbits U.S. Acres: S&P Global Energy raised its corn plantings forecast to 95.2 million acres from its January projection of 95 million acres. USDA’s 2025 planted acres were 98.8 million. S&P projected U.S. 2026 soybean plantings at 85 million acres, up from its January forecast of 84.5 million and up from the 81.2 million acres seeded in 2025. The firm also projected total U.S. wheat plantings for 2026 at 44.050 million acres, 40,000 acres above its January projection but d

Tidbits The Federal Reserve left the fed funds rate unchanged yesterday afternoon, as was expected. Flash sale: Yesterday, the USDA announced the sale of 120,000 mts of new crop soybean meal to unknown. Oil exports through Saudi Arabia's Yanbu port on ‌the Red Sea are projected to reach a high of 3.8 million barrels per day this month. Average loadings from that port rose to 2.6 million bpd so far in March, up from 1.4 ​million bpd in February and 1.3 million bpd in January.

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, change

Tidbits Brazil’s ethanol production is forecast to rise by some 4 billion liters (+11%) in the 2026/27 season from a year earlier, which would set a record level, a statement signed by a number of local industry lobbies said on Monday. Brazil is expected to produce 36.66 billion liters of ethanol in the 2025/26 season, according to the country’s national crop agency Conab. Global edible oil markets are behaving unpredictably as energy supply disruptions from the Middle East w

Tidbits Soybeans & China: U.S. Treasury Secretary Bessent said in an interview yesterday morning that the Sunday and Monday talks with China in Paris had been ‘very good,’ adding that the U.S. continues to maintain a stable relationship with Beijing. However, President Trump said his meeting with China’s President Xi planned to begin on 31 March may be postponed due to “logistical” problems. We take that to mean he is too busy with Iran and crude oil flow. The soybean market

Tidbits Brazilian soybeans: The Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAPA) of Brazil has relaxed the issuance of Phytosanitary Certificates and resumed accepting surveyor samples. However, MAPA added a series of procedures and conditions: A Vigiagro (Brazilian federal health) inspector will personally accompany 1 out of every 10 vessels delivering soybeans to China. The inspector will personally collect the sample. The MAPA memo does not specify how or where the inspector w

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. Dow Jones Industrial Average Index settled on Friday at 46,558, -943 points for the week. Crude oil settled at $99.31, +8.04. Dollar Index settled at 100.5, +1.65. Baltic Dry Index (a shipping freight-cost index) settled at 2,028, +18. Corn May futures settled at $4.67¼, +6¾¢ for the week. Dec

Tidbits Russia was selling oil at just $50 a barrel to India and China. Now that India has a waiver to buy Russian gas and oil, Russia is telling India it will not give any more discounts. Russia is charging India $90 a barrel according to energy expert Amos Hochstein. Many producers of crude oil like to lock in a profitable price for future production when possible. Most producers know within a few bucks what their cost of production will be for the year ahead because most

Tidbits U.S. and Chinese trade officials will meet in Paris tomorrow and Monday to lay the groundwork for the summit between President Trump and China’s President Xi Jinping. Bloomberg reports topics of discussion include tariffs, fentanyl, Taiwan, and soybean purchases. Crude oil: Saudi Arabia is flanked by the Red Sea on the west and the Persian Gulf on the east, north of Strait of Hormuz. Satellites that track ship transponders show a massive number of vessels are now he

Tidbits 8 ships passed through the Strait of Hormuz on Tuesday, 5 more than the previous day, as S&P Global reported. Two of the ships were sanctioned vessels loaded with Iranian natural gas. Iran's new leader made his first statements, calling for national unity and stating that the Strait of Hormuz must remain closed. Brazilian soybeans were having trouble getting phyto-sanitary certificates, as we mentioned yesterday. Cargill announced later yesterday it had suspended soyb

Tidbits Crude Oil: Two tankers carrying Iraqi fuel oil were attacked within the territorial waters of Iraq last evening, causing both to catch fire in the Persian Gulf. A total of 25 crew members onboard the vessels have been evacuated so far by authorities in Iraq. Despite Donald Trump's statements, the U.S. refuses to escort civilian ships through the Strait of Hormuz, citing the high risk of attacks, Reuters reports. The International Energy Agency (IEA) approved yesterday

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, change