BASIC & RECENT MARKET INFO

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 j

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for November 22, 2025

Tidbits During the 43 days the U.S. government was shut down, December spring wheat gained 6¢, Hard Red Winter December wheat gained 42¢, Soft Red Winter December wheat gained 47¢, December corn gained 28¢ and January beans gained $1.30, new highs not only for the year, but higher than any time since June 2024.   There has been a lot of talk over the years that farm commodities are the only products in the U.S. that everyone is told what production was in the past and expecte

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for November 15, 2025

Tidbits Inflation: Two weeks ago, the U.S. inflation rate for the past 12 months was reported to be 3%, way above the Federal Reserve’s stated goal of 2%. Three days later, the Fed reduced the Fed Fund Rate. Chairman Jerome Powell said, “Inflation has eased significantly from its highs in mid-2022 but remains somewhat elevated relative to our 2 percent longer-run goal."   In August 1971, the U.S. annual inflation rate reached an "intolerable" 3% and all financial “experts” pr

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for November 8, 2025

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for November 1, 2025

Tidbits Tariffs:  Yesterday, President Trump signed trade deals with Thailand, Malaysia, and Cambodia. Tariffs on most of their exports to the U.S. will remain at 19%. Thailand and Malaysia will increase exports of rare earth minerals to the U.S. while allowing increased access of U.S. products to all three countries' markets.   At the annual summit of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, President Lula of Brazil and Trump talked for nearly an hour yesterday and indica

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for October 25, 2025

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for October 11, 2025

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for October 4, 2025

Tidbits The Quarterly Grain Stocks Report  will be issued tomorrow at 11 AM Central. This September stocks report includes a look back at the last three marketing years to see if the current inventory is reasonable given the crop production and consumption numbers of each of those years. Once every 10 or so years, there is a huge surprise in September. However, during the past six years, USDA has made some adjustments “out-of-schedule” for past marketing years.   The most rec

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for September 27, 2025

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for September 20, 2025

Tidbits Corn Acres:  Zaner Ag Hedge Chief Analyst, Karen Braun, asked USDA/NASS via their chatline (paraphrased): Karen prepared state-by-state corn acres reported in June vs corn acres in September. Note the biggest acreage increases percentage wise were in Mississippi, North Dakota, Kansas, Arkansas, South Dakota, Texas, Wisconsin, and Ohio. Together, Nebraska and Minnesota added 850,000 acres.

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for September 13, 2025

Tidbits Harvest:  There were many more areas in the Corn Belt than we expected that started harvest this weekend. The early yield results were reported to be less than expected, even areas where the weather was considered quite good, such as Northwest Iowa. Maybe the better-than-expected yields, if any, did not get reported. Of course, the worst yields for the 2025 crop will be the early harvest acres given the August weather.         The Corn Belt weather for the next two we

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for September 6, 2025

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'

World Free-On-Board Grain & Oilseed Prices for August 30, 2025