BASIC & RECENT MARKET INFO

Tidbits Flash Sale: Yesterday, the USDA announced the sale of 115,000 mts of new crop corn to Colombia. Biofuel: The American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers (AFPM) filed a lawsuit Friday in the D.C. Circuit court challenging the 2026-2027 Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) volumes finalized by the EPA in March. The AFPM claims EPA’s “Set 2 rule” is the largest and most expensive RFS iteration in history and is the single most expensive regulation of President Trump’s second te

Tidbits As we recently stated, corn and bean futures decline after the market gets comfortable that those crops will get planted. It is highly probable corn, beans, and wheat will see a gain 50% to 62% of what they have lost since 13 May. That is the standard technical retracement and profit-taking. The longest sunlight day of the year for the Corn Belt is three weeks from Monday. Soil moisture disappears very fast with 16 to 17 hours of daylight and warm to hot day time temp

Tidbits After corn and beans were up four consecutive days ending Wednesday and wheat up three consecutive days ending on Tuesday after a very bullish wheat news from USDA, all three markets were due for a correction (profit taking) yesterday. Wheat also had more serious technical and seasonal price trend reasons to fall sharply. Wednesday evening, corn, beans and KC wheat trended slightly higher until about 1 AM but failed to come close to Wednesday highs awaiting news from

Tidbits Iran’s military said United States forces targeted an Iranian oil tanker in coastal waters and a second vessel near the United Arab Emirates’ Fujairah port, while U.S. air strikes hit civilian areas in southern Iran. The U.S. military’s Central Command said its naval forces came under Iranian missile, drone and fast-boat attacks in the Strait of Hormuz. President Donald Trump described the attacks on Iranian targets as a “love tap”, telling U.S. broadcast media that “

Tidbits November beans and December corn made their 2026 highs on Thursday 30 April. $11.78 and $4.99¾ respectively. The price of soybeans continues to rise today, exceeding $11.79. Japan’s Central Bank intervened in the foreign exchange market with buying yesterday. It was the first such intervention since July 2024. The yen buying raised its value versus the dollar by a massive 3.1%. The yen had its strongest day since 2022. Japan is the fourth largest importer of American

Tidbits The weather forecast is predicting limited rainfall through next week for Western Kansas, Eastern Colorado, and Nebraska with no rain in the Texas and Oklahoma Panhandles. The update to the Drought Monitor yesterday morning shows 70% of the U.S. winter wheat crop in drought. That is the largest since 2023 and the largest drought area for this time of the growing season since 2022. Total global grains production is expected to set a record during this marketing season,

Tidbits Argentina: The Buenos Aires Grains Exchange (BAGE) raised its 2025/26 Argentine corn production estimate by 4 million mts to 61 million mts, well above the USDA’s April WASDE forecast of 52 million mts, however still below the Rosario Grain Exchange estimate of 67 million mts. The BAGE kept their soybean production forecast steady at 48.5 million mts while reporting harvest at 6% complete. France’s Ag Ministry estimates 2026 soft wheat planting at 4.61 million hectare

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, t

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 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

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 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 & Fuel: Bloomberg reports that China has told their oil refiners to suspend diesel and gasoline exports. Japanese oil refiners are asking the government to release supplies from the strategic petroleum reserves and have also bought around 7 million barrels of U.S. crude oil for June arrival. U.S. Energy Secretary Wright said the Navy will escort vessels through the Strait of Hormuz “when the time is right,” but their current focus is disarming Iran. He said

Tidbits Flash Sale: Yesterday morning, the USDA announced the sale of 154,000 mts of new crop corn and 24,000 mts of 2027 crop corn to Japan. Soybean Demand & Oil: Weekly Export Sales reported 407,100 mts of soybeans were booked for export this marketing year which ends 31 August. Soybean sales were down 49% from a week ago and down 30% from the 4-week average. China bought 75,500 mts, but 66,000 mts was switched from an unknown buyer to China. So, China only bought 9,500 mts

Tidbits Tariffs: The Supreme Court ruled yesterday by a vote of 6-3 that President Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are illegal. The Court ruled the International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA), a 1977 law meant for national emergencies, does not authorize a president to impose tariffs. Tariffs are considered taxes/duties, which fall under Congress’ constitutional authority. Any broad delegation of authority to the President requires clear statutory language that IEEPA does not i

Tidbits It is amazing how suddenly “everyone” trusts Communist China to do what they say they will do when it comes to business transactions. The South China Post reported early Thursday that China’s President Xi and President Trump will extend the trade war truce by as much as a year when they meet Beijing in early April. March soybeans made a new high for the move yesterday, left a quarter cent gap on the chart, and settled higher than any day since the first day of Decembe

Tidbits Next Tuesday, February 10, the USDA will release its S&D (WASDE) report. Reuters released its survey of analysts ahead of the report, showing an average 2025/26 carryout estimates: Corn - 2.227 billion bushels (same as in January S&D) Soybean - 347 million bushel (350 mil in January) Wheat - 918 million bushels (926 mil in January) Yesterday’s soybean trade volume reached roughly 930,000 contracts, marking a new all‑time record. U.S. net farm income would fall 0.7% to

Tidbits The government will have a partial shutdown at midnight tonight unless the Senate can find 5 more votes to advance a House approved spending package. The Democrats said they would not support any legislation if it included funding for the Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Eight Republicans joined nearly all Democrats in voting no. One “no” vote by Senate Majority Leader John Thune was strictly a parliamentary procedural reason, to be able to request a vote to rec

Tidbits The U.S. Composite Purchasing Manager Index (PMI) was reported yesterday morning by S&P Global to be 52.8; the market expected 51.9. The “composite” PMI is the manufacturing and service sector combined. A PMI above 50 means purchasing managers plan to buy more supplies for their business in the coming month than they purchased the previous month. It is a forward looking economic indicator. Crude oil: A few days ago, the French navy intercepted a shadow fleet tank

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