BASIC & RECENT MARKET INFO

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 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

Tidbits Iran’s president issued an apology to neighboring countries to calm regional anger at Iran’s strikes on Gulf civilian targets and urged them not to join the U.S. and Israeli attacks on Iran. Fertilizer: From Agrinvest and Dellagro Team: "The global fertilizer market went on alert following escalating tensions in the Middle East, which increased logistical uncertainties in the Persian Gulf and the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers.

Tidbits The price of crude oil rose by more than $10 in a single day, closing at $91.27. The U.S. will allow Russian crude oil that has been stranded at sea to be sold to India to ease the potential supply shock to the global market. It is estimated there is 150 million barrels of Russian oil in those ships. Treasury Secretary ​Scott Bessent yesterday ‌said the United States could remove sanctions from more ​Russian oil, a ​day after Washington issued a ⁠30-day waiver all

Tidbits Logistics, Energy & Fertilizer: At 2:37 PM ET yesterday, President Trump ordered the U.S. Development Finance Corporation to provide political risk insurance and guarantees for all maritime trade traveling through the Persian Gulf. The U.S. is preparing military measures to safeguard ships transiting the Strait of Hormuz. Energy contracts trimmed gains when that news came out early afternoon. In addition to 20% of the world’s crude oil, more than 30% of the world’s fe

Tidbits January crush numbers were reported by the USDA after the close yesterday. Corn crush was 505 million bushels, down 2% from a year ago; 461 million bushels of corn were crushed for ethanol, down 1% from a year ago, crush numbers were better than we expected, given the January weather in the Corn Belt. The January weather probably had something to do with the amount of corn crushed for beverage alcohol at 3.47 million bushels, up 22% from January 2025. The soybean crus

Tidbits Today is the last trading day for March options. First notice day for March grain futures is next Friday, February 27. Be sure to exit or roll any long positions by the close on February 26 to avoid being involved in the delivery process. Iran rejected the U.S. nuclear deal proposal, which was presented during negotiations in Geneva this week, as the Wall Street Journal reports. Iran counter-offered "modest concessions on its nuclear program.” U.S. officials say that

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 Mexico has become the largest buyer of U.S. corn. Trump is increasing pressure on Cuba to cause the communist regime to collapse. Now that Venezuela is not shipping crude to Cuba, Mexico is the largest supplier of crude oil and refined products to Cuba. Mexican President Sheinbaum has said Mexico will continue crude oil shipments to Cuba, saying they are based on long term contracts and considered international aid. However, senior Mexican government sources said the

Tidbits Flash sale: Yesterday morning, the USDA announced the sale of 100,800 mts of old crop corn to Colombia and 392,500 mts of old crop corn to Mexico. Crude oil jumped 80¢ higher yesterday mid-day when it was revealed that President Putin said he is not going to give-up real estate gains his military has occupied in Ukraine. Russia currently controls 19.2% of Ukraine, including Crimea, which it annexed in 2014. Vladimir Putin visited India for the first time in four years

Tidbits Ukraine: On Sunday, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio led the talks in Geneva with a high-level Ukrainian delegation after Ukraine and its European allies rejected the U.S. peace plan because of the major concessions to Russia. Rubio said significant progress was made on crafting a plan to end the war in Ukraine during the talks, but no agreement was reached on how to guarantee Kyiv's security amid concerns about the threat posed by Russia. European officials jo

Tidbits China purchased earlier this week one Panamax load of 60,000 mts of soft white wheat and another 60,000 mts of spring wheat according to traders in the export business, as Reuters reported yesterday. Delivery will be in December. “The expectation of an event will move the market more than confirmation of an event” is a fancy way to say, “Buy the rumor and sell the fact.” The rumor the past two weeks was China will buy U.S. wheat. That rumor had Soft Red Winter Wheat

Tidbits The meeting between Trump and Xi Jinping lasted approximately 1 hour and 40 minutes. At the start of the talks, Trump stated that Beijing and Washington had already reached agreement on many issues and would continue this work during the summit. Following the talks, Trump headed straight to his special plane without making a joint statement. Trump’s comments on board Air Force One were the first we got on how these talks progressed. There has been no official statemen

Tidbits November grain and oilseed options expire this Friday, October 24th. Deliveries on November soybean futures will start Friday, October 31st. Farm Aid: The U.S. administration is planning to distribute more than $3 billion in aid for farmers and reopen some activities of the USDA amid the ongoing federal shutdown. Ag Secretary Rollins said: "Thursday, USDA will resume Farm Service Agency core operations, including critical services for farm loan processing, ARC/PLC

Tidbits Dismissals: Friday evening President Trump fired more than 4,200 Federal employees from the Treasury Department, U.S. Health Agency, Internal Revenue Service, and the Departments of Education, Commerce, and Homeland Security's cybersecurity division. Roughly 300,000 civil service workers have already been set to leave their jobs this year due to a downsizing campaign initiated earlier this year. From the AgrInvest Commodities Team in Brazil: "The São Paulo market is

Tidbits Ag support: Secretary of Agriculture, Brooke L. Rollins announced last week an aggressive three-point plan that will support American agricultural producers and exporters. “President Trump is putting American agriculture first by negotiating fair, reciprocal deals that benefit U.S. producers, farmers, and ranchers,” said Under Secretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Luke J. Lindberg. “Secretary Rollins is focused on expanding market access, enforcing trad

Tidbits Conservation Reserve Program: On Wednesday, the USDA announced acceptance of 1.78 million acres into the Conservation Reserve Program (CRP). About 25.8 million acres are currently enrolled in CRP, which is in its 40th year. FSA received offers on more than 2.6 million acres. The program’s total acreage is capped at 27 million acres for fiscal year 2025. About 955,795 acres are expiring on September 30 this year. Producers submitted re-enrollment offers for just over 6

Tidbits Flash sale: Yesterday morning, the USDA announced the sale of 185,000 mts of new crop soybean meal to the Philippines. U.S. crude oil inventories rose by 620,000 barrels last week after a 970,000 barrel decline the previous week. The market expected a 3.4 million-barrel drawdown. S&P Global PMI reports: Russia composite (includes manufacturing and services) PMI: 49.1 vs 47.5 expected Russia services PMI: 50.0 vs 48.3 expected Great Britain composite PMI: 53.5 vs 53.0

Tidbits Soybean crush: The USDA July soybean crush report will be issued tomorrow. It is expected to be up 7.2% from a year ago at 207.2 million bushels, the largest July crush on record and 5th largest of any month. India-Pakistan: More than a million people in Pakistan have been displaced in the Punjab province as the worst flooding there in four decades caused havoc in hundreds of villages and submerged vital grains crops. Torrential monsoon rain and neighboring India's

Tidbits A Chinese commerce minister is scheduled to visit the U.S. and talk to trade deputies. While this is not part of the ongoing negotiations, it is seen as a goodwill gesture. The human case of screwworm reported this week by U.S. health officials is the country's only one so far this year and poses no risk to the farm sector, a U.S. Department of Agriculture official said on Tuesday. Crude oil was lower yesterday, despite the Ukraine conflict and its impact on Russian f