Grain Marketing Education, News & Strategies

Tidbits New ‌World screwworm ​has been found and confirmed in a ​calf ​in Texas, the ‌USDA said ​on ​Wednesday ⁠evening, exposing ​the ​nation's ⁠cattle herd to ⁠a ​serious ​new threat. That screw worm contributed to yesterday’s late weakness in corn. The U.S. typically imports over a million cattle from Mexico every year. The import suspension contributed to rising beef prices by tightening the supply of beef cattle. An expansive U.S. outbreak would further tighten the suppl

Tidbits National Weather Service 6 to 10 and 8 to 14 day forecasts predict much above normal temperatures with normal rainfall for the northern half of the U.S., as of last evening. China expects El Niño weather effects to peak in autumn and winter this year, before weakening in spring next year. Iran: A tentative 60-day ‘memorandum of understanding’ has been reached to extend the ceasefire and initiate nuclear negotiations with Iran, pending approval from President Trump. U.

Tidbits December corn closed below its key technical support level of $4.80¼ yesterday. We discussed this technical situation on Tuesday when we stated December corn was no longer in an uptrend but was in a sideways trading range until it either traded above $5.06½ or below $4.80¼. Yesterday’s settlement was $4.77½. December corn is now in a down trend using the technical analysis system of higher highs and higher lows versus lower highs and lower lows. Barchart.com’s 13 tech

Tidbits Crude oil gapped lower on the opening last evening and traded more than $5 lower in the first half hour of trading on the expectation that the Strait of Hormuz will be opened in a matter of days. Iran: President Trump said on Sunday he had told his representatives not to rush into any deal with Iran. He played down hopes of an imminent breakthrough that had been raised on Saturday. Trump said the U.S. blockade of Iranian ships in the Strait of Hormuz will remain in

Tidbits The CBOT grains will not trade again until Monday evening after the markets close today. The energy, equities, and interest rate futures will open normal times on Sunday. Energy futures will quit trading at 1:30 PM Monday and interest rate and equity futures will halt trading at noon Central Time Monday. China’s peak U.S. agriculture import year of $38 billion was 2022. They bought just $8 billion worth of agriculture products in 2025. Eduardo Vanin of AgrInvest Commo

Tidbits Market Comment: The CBOT markets were very disappointed last Thursday and Friday with the news from the Trump-Xi meeting. Essentially, there was no new news for corn, wheat, and soybean exports to China, which had already agreed in October to buy 25 million mts of U.S. soybeans in each of the next three marketing years beginning 1 September 2026. Given the price relationship of South American soybeans compared to U.S. soybeans, and China’s huge stockpile and productio

Tidbits Nebraska is the third largest corn producing state in the U.S. It produces just under 2 billion bushels of corn annually. Nebraska is now 94% under some level of drought with about 10% in exceptional drought. Brady Olson farms and ranches in northeast Montana. He said Friday: "I think we have a massive disaster/wreck in northeast Montana and northwest North Dakota. Soil is drifted like snowbanks. Fertilizer that should be 3+ inches in the ground is on top. So dry an

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 Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. Iran said it was responding to a continued U.S. blockade of Iranian ports, calling it a violation of their ceasefire, while Supreme Leader Mojtaba Khamenei said Iran's navy ‌was ready to inflict "new bitter defeats" on its enemies. At least two Indian flagged vessels carrying 2 million barrels of Iraqi oil were hit while trying to transit the Strait of Hormuz on Saturday. Iranian State media quoted the Supreme National

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 The U.S. and Iran failed to reach an agreement. Each side blamed the other for the failure of the 21-hour negotiations to make a deal. Iran will not agree to give up its pursuit of developing nuclear weapons. The U.S. and most of its allies require Iran to give up that pursuit. After all, Iran has openly stated for 47 years it wants to “Blow Israel off the map” and “Death to America.” The military operation versus Iran will not end unless Iran has a regime change

Tidbits Tomorrow at 11 AM Central time the USDA will release the Planting Intentions for 2026 crops and the Grain Stocks as of 1 March. This is probably the second most important USDA reporting day of the year (after June Stocks and Planted Acreage reports). Uruguay: Santiago Fernández Camacho is the Managing Director of The Trade Bridge Group of Montevideo, Uruguay, which borders Brazil to the north and Argentina to the west. We asked Santiago to give an update on agri

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

Highlights Israel launched a pre-emptive attack against Iran on Saturday about 8 AM local time, pushing the Middle East into a renewed military confrontation and further dimming hopes for a diplomatic solution to Tehran's long-running nuclear dispute with the West. The New York Times and Al Jazeera, citing a U.S. official, reported that the United States took part in the strikes. President Trump confirmed that the U.S. military began major combat operations in Iran. Tidbits

Tidbits The Supreme Court’s decision that made a large portion of President Trump’s tariffs illegal will not have a direct impact on corn, wheat, and soybean prices. After all, Trump's tariffs are on imports into the U.S., not our exports. Confusion and misinformation is often bearish, but Trump’s new 10% tariffs introduced on Friday afternoon will help stabilize all the markets. Those 10% tariffs will come into effect Tuesday and will be in place for 150 days, the White Ho

Tidbits Eduardo Vanin reported Saturday: "Too much rain in the Center of Brazil and Parana and late planting up North. 1. Supply side is pricing a possible (harvest) delay. A small amount of beans supply in January. The spread of Feb-Mar is still close to 20¢. The CFR is more than that. 2. Corn market is firmer for safrinha as a side effect. Probably the start of the export program will again be slow (small program for July)." And on Sunday he added: "Last week Brazil sold

Tidbits Soybeans: The U.S. may not be selling soybeans to the world’s largest soybean importer (China), but it looks like the U.S. will be selling beans to the world’s largest soybean producer (Brazil), which sells most of its beans to China. Yes, Ladies and Gentlemen, Brazil soybean crushing plants near Brazil’s ports are running the numbers on importing U.S. soybeans instead of trying to get beans from the West Central area of Brazil, which is 600 to 1,000 miles away from t

Tidbits Yesterday, December corn opened unchanged at $4.18 (open price) and then traded to $4.14¼ (day low) technical support during the day. Before the close it recovered to $4.21 (day high) and settled at $4.19¾ (close price), up 1¾¢ for the day. Such four prices form a bar or a candle for the chart. Bar/candle charts give you more sense of the trading periods compared to linear charts (where only one price describes a period). We hope you are usually using either bar or ca