BASIC & RECENT MARKET INFO

Tidbits Corn basis  continues to firm. Dan reported Heritage Coop in West Central Ohio firmed from -45Z (45¢ under Dec futures) last Friday, to -40Z on Monday, to -37Z yesterday. More than half the corn is still in the field in that area where yields are not as good as expected in early August, but above average. Agronomists have identified the area west of Galesburg, Illinois, including communities of Alexis, Joy, Monmouth, Kirkwood, etc., as the Tarspot Ground Zero of the C

Tidbits NOPA crush  for August was expected to be 182.857 million bushels; actual was 189.810 million bushels, a 20% increase from a year ago. Better yet, soy oil stocks were 53 million pounds less than expected at 1.245 billion pounds. Flash sale: Yesterday morning, the USDA announced the sale of 148.971 mts of 2025 corn to unknown. China: President Trump said yesterday he would be speaking to Chinese President Xi this Friday. Poland’s closed border with Belarus has frozen t

Tidbits The 33rd Annual Pro Farmer Crop Tour  begins today and will end on Thursday. It will provide some definitive information about pollination and ear fill. The same routes are covered every year, which means the value of this tour is determined by yield comparison with previous years, not the USDA August numbers.     Call options:  We discussed yesterday the pros and cons of buying March 2026 corn $4.20 strike price call for 20½¢. The March $5.00 call has a premium (valu

Tidbits The National Oilseed Processors Association ( NOPA ) reported yesterday at midday they crushed 185.709 million bushels of soybeans in June, a 6% increase from June 2024. The NOPA soybean crush has now set new monthly records 8 of the 10 months this marketing year. Soybean oil stocks were down 6.7 million to 1.366 billion lbs., slightly higher than trade expectations. This is the smallest June oil inventory since 2004, and 16% lower than a year earlier. To learn more a

Tidbits After the markets close  today, they will not open until Thursday evening in observance of the Juneteenth holiday. This is the single most important week of the year for corn marketing decisions . The seasonal trend turns lower on Sunday. Corn futures price usually makes its low for the year between late July and mid-September. Fundamentally, corn should be well over $5. Is a 15.8 billion corn crop already priced-in? Please read today’s Weekly Summary and Recommendati

Tidbits Soybeans traded sharply lower yesterday because bean oil traded down the 3¢ per pound daily limit yesterday morning. That was because EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin said late Wednesday that setting the biofuel mandates for 2026 can be expected in the coming months, which was much later than the market expected. The real bean oil hammer were rumors reported by news wire services that the required Renewable Volume Obligation (RVO) levels in 2026 will be 4.65 billion gallo

Tidbits The Chinese economy  expanded at an annual rate of 5.4% in the first quarter of 2025, keeping the same pace as in the 4th quarter of 2024. The market expected a slower pace of expansion of just 5.1%. China’s economic annual growth rate is the strongest in 1½ years.   Manufacturing sales in Canada rose 0.2% in February to CA$72 billion; the market expected a decline of 0.2%. February was the fifth consecutive month of increases and the highest level of sales since Sept

Tidbits President Trump and President Putin are scheduled to have a phone conversation this morning regarding the negotiations of a ceasefire and possibly the end to the Ukraine/Russia  war. The discussion will be centered on the allocation of assets, primarily of land and power plants that must be settled before a lasting peace can be maintained. Mark Carney was sworn in as the first new Canadian prime minister  in nine years on Friday. He visited the UK and France as his fi

Highlights Yesterday, Saudi Arabia hosted the first talks between Russia and the U.S. since the start of the war in Ukraine . President Donald Trump commented on their outcome, here are the main points: Trump called the meeting between the U.S. and Russian delegations ‘very good’ and admitted that after it he became ‘much more confident’ in reaching a deal on a settlement in Ukraine; Trump said he was not against sending European troops to Ukraine, but there would be no Ameri

Tidbits Yesterday’s NOPA crush  for November was down 3% from October and about 3.5 million bushels less than expected, but it was a record high for any November at 193.19 million bushels. Oil Stocks were 1.084 billion pounds; the average oil inventory estimate was 1.123 billion pounds, starting the new soy oil marketing year at the lowest level since 2014/2015.   AgRural estimates the Brazilian  corn crop at 121.3 million mts (USDA 127) and Brazil’s soybean crop at 171.5 mil

Highlights Those of you with January bean futures or basis contracts looking to roll to March before December 28th, your patience made you 2¼¢ yesterday and 3¼¢ the past 5 days because the January bean contract is gaining on the March contract. That is because the market is paying less and less for storage as the demand is strengthening for the available beans. It certainly helps that the USDA has announced soybean export sales of over 100,000 mts of beans 8 consecutive busin

Highlights The National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) soybean crush for November was 179.184 million bushels, well below the trade’s expectation of 181.473 mb and below the low end of the range of expectations of 180.0. Soy oil stocks were reported at 1.630 billion pounds, above the average trade estimate of 1.619 billion pounds (range 1.550-1.775). Considering the crush was less than expected and, yet, the soy oil stocks were larger than expected, soybean futures hel

Highlights The National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) reported yesterday at mid-day their members crushed 158.109 million bushels, of soybeans in September, 3% above a year ago, but 2% below two years ago and 3.5 million bushels less than the expected to be 161.627 mil bu. Soy oil stocks are at 1.459 billion pounds, the lowest in 2 years and way below trade guess of 1.522 billion pounds, so the oil demand improved. NOPA members produced 40 million fewer pounds of oil

Highlights The National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) reported yesterday their members crushed 164.677 million bushels of soybeans in June, slightly above the market estimates. To learn all about the NOPA, go to: https://www.wrightonthemarket.com/post/about-the-nopa While export sales are always poor during the "dog days" of summer, Thursday's weekly export sales report showed China did buy quite a bit of old crop corn (for this late in the marketing year). Brazil