Strong Precipitation Could Affect Corn Crops Crop growth in northern China's corn belt could be negatively impacted by the recent continuous rain. Most of...

General Comments Markets started the Sunday evening session slightly lower. That was expected following Friday's massive sell-off in soybeans and corn. The...

Since the House passed its farm-program-only version of the farm bill: Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin (D-Illinois) has stated that the Hous...

The crops are planted and doing quite well by most accounts.They are simply very late. There is no dome of doom in the immediate forecasts. Significant por...

USDA reports always keep you up at night and yesterday's numbers were no different. Here are a few items worth noting: U.S. hard red winter wheat (H...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Wrong Moves Could Lead to Market Discrepancies Why would the Indian Ministry of Agriculture and Food want to hike import duties on pulses from a rate of ze...

General Comments Markets were mixed overnight, but corn and soybeans turned decidedly bearish when they re-opened at 8:30 this morning. Evidently, the trad...

Alternative Energy Roughhouse It was a smash-up week for alternative energy with more contradictory studies flying, legislative paring and mealy mouthed be...

The House passed the farm-only bill yesterday as Gary Blumenthal reported. It needed 218 votes to pass, but the Speaker's chair gaveled the vote closed to...

USDA released their July WASDE and Production reports at noon today and they offered no decisive advantage to either long or short traders. Slight adjustme...

Net Reductions in U.S. Soybean and Soyoil Export Sales Today's USDA export sales report indicated a net reduction in U.S. export sales of soybeans and soyo...

U.S. corn ending stocks for the current 2012/13 season (ending 31 August) were 729 million bushels. This figure was a reduction below USDA's June estimate...

Boehner Salvages Farm Bill Critics excoriated it, Democrats voted against it and President Obama made a grandstanding veto threat against it, but U.S House...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

U.S. Industry Joins Canadians in COOL Lawsuit A group of eight industry groups from the U.S. and Canada have filed a lawsuit in Washington D.C. The groups...

Renting Lands Becomes A Difficult Business Tight margins, higher costs, increasing tax pressure and bad results in the past two campaigns makes this busine...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Figuring U.S. Foreign Policy Bangladesh has a predominantly Muslim population of nearly 200 million people living on around $2,000 per capita of income per...

Russian Grain Market: 3 July – 9 July 2013 Harvesting Updates According to the Russian Federation's Ministry of Agriculture, as of 3 July grain crops were...

General Comments It is the day before USDA's July WASDE, but it is the weather that continues to grip the market's attention. The high pressure ridge setti...

Former baseball great Yogi Berra, oft quoted for his malapropisms, once said, "if you come to a fork in the road, take it." That appears to be what the Hou...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments Short covering, fund buying and old crop/new crop spread action were the dominant features of grain and soy markets today. Overnight tradi...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS This week there were quite a few comments in the press and from various organizations on the grain situ...

Brazil Slightly Increases 2013 Soybean Crop Estimate The Brazilian commodity supply agency (Conab) today raised its forecast for the 2013 crop of soybeans...

Traders in commodity futures markets are always nervous, it goes with the territory. They are always fearful that something unforeseen will happen to harm...

As we reported on 25 June, ethanol in Brazil is now cheaper than gasoline and that is creating a demand for ethanol. The latest data shows that the price o...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments Markets came back from the long weekend in a slightly better mood following Friday's sharply lower trade with a holiday-shortened thin tra...

In a normal summer, the 4 July holiday in the U.S. can be a significant time for the markets. It is especially true for corn, because in a normal summer a...

China Revising Supportive Procurement Policy for Grains China is revising its 10-year-old supportive procurement policy for grains. The new policy is expec...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market is under pressure because of the ongoing harvest and slow demand. The crop in Russia has been revised slightly dow...

Yesterday, the Independence Day holiday, was a key milestone of the summer driving season. Driving mileage typically increases in the summer season from Me...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Indian Rupee Had Worst Regional Performance The Indian rupee (INR) had the worst performance in the region over the past 90 days with a depreciation rate o...

We've been following weather and crop planting in North Dakota for the past month because it has been so wet, especially across the northern third of the s...

General Comments Markets were closed for the holiday yesterday and opened at 8:30 this morning. Early calls were for lower openings, but the markets opened...

Russian Grain Market: 26 June – 2 July 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 1 July, grain crops were harvested on 2.3 million hectares. The volume of the grain pr...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Spying Versus Observing President Obama rebuffed charges of U.S. spying on European missions for leverage in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partner...

General Comments There has been market discussion that China is making some selective wheat purchases to shore up stocks. USDA currently estimates that Chi...

Parana River Vessel Groundings Last week was quite problematic for vessels on the Parana River. Two vessels collided on the river, followed by the groundin...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

There has been a lot of commentary about the Fed hinting at phasing down quantitative easing (QE) since last week, when the Fed acknowledged it may be cons...

Argentina Selling Soymeal Corn Blend in Vietnam According to a contact, Argentine exporters are offering a product in Vietnam that is called a balanced soy...

Threats and Other Silliness No threats, just opportunities. There are alternative ways to think about many things, including those perceived as threats. Th...

General Comments Technical traders who observed the gap lower in December corn on Monday attempted to drive the contract down even more, but punching a hol...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN and MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The Syrian government grain purchasing department (Hoboob) has reported that it purchased 550,000 MT of...

Historically, a poultry producer could potentially risk a 20 percent increase in feed prices when corn was trading at $2.40/bushel, but a similar proportio...

Horsemeat and Raw Milk USDA is allowing liberty in the marketplace by approving a New Mexico plant to move forward with the legal slaughter of horsemeat fo...

General Comments Peculiar dynamics in commodity markets can sometimes stand out as red flags. The sole rally in the July corn contract last Friday was note...

CAP/Farm Bill; Similarities and Differences Tracking the similarities and differences between U.S. and European farm policy is a herky-jerky affair. The tr...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market is under pressure as the harvest is progressing and demand remains slow. Russian/Ukrainian wheat is the most compe...

Agricultural Product Logistics Continuing Growth Despite Logistic Sector Slowdown The China Federation of Logistics and Purchasing (CFLP) recently reported...

We reported on Friday that House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) is actively pursuing a plan to separate farm programs and nutrition programs into...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Today was the big day for USDA Acreage and Grain Stocks reports, and "big" was the operative word for acreage. Corn, soybeans and wheat were all up, with c...

General Comments USDA's Acreage report was considered bearish, but the quarterly Grain Stocks report was considered bullish for corn and soybeans. The resu...

This year's farm bill became a showdown over nutrition spending and policy. Predictably, when the cost of the near-trillion-dollar farm bill was reported i...

Increased MSP to Boost Planting and Inflation Increased monsoon activity ensured that farmers planted their crops in time. The government had raised the mi...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Pig Disease Spreading in the U.S. Porcine epidemic diarrhea virus (PEDV) has been spreading across the U.S. since earlier this month, according to health a...

Small Old Crop Soy Export Sales Last Week As expected, today's USDA Export Sales report revealed U.S. exporters only made small net export sales of soybean...

TTIP Needs Coherence EU negotiators say that future Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) negotiations will be less burdened by the demands...

Long-time clients know that every so often we dust off that old and cliched law of market economics that declares, "the best cure for high prices is high p...

General Comments Tomorrow's USDA acreage and stocks reports command attention as they should. However, no matter what the reports say, it will not take mar...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Approps as Farm Bill Mini The Obama Administration has threatened a veto of the FY 2014 appropriations bill moving through the Republican-controlled House...

Soybeans OLD CROP Brazilian old crop soybeans are almost complete. Two cargoes traded last week at +180 SQ CNF China. Demand is still good for August soybe...

Russian Grain Market: 17-25 June 2013 Harvesting Updates As of 24 June, grain crops were harvested on 510,600 hectares. The volume of the grain produced wa...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments Trading overnight provided mixed results with soybeans giving back Tuesday's gains while corn and wheat moved modestly higher -- just the...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments Stats Canada's updated estimates on planted area as of 10 June were released today. They are as follows stated in millions of acres:Stats...

Canadian Farmers to Plant Less Canola, More Soybeans and Flax Statistics Canada today released its survey of the planting intentions of Canada's farmers. T...

Cost of Being Late Japan has just found out that when it joins the Trans-Pacific Partnership negotiations next month in Malaysia, nearly half the chapter a...

Ethanol in the U.S. has hit the blend wall of 10 percent. The corn ethanol category alone, which is capped at 13.8 billion gallons, exceeds the 2013 10 per...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS There are only a few weeks to go until Ramadan in all Muslim countries, from about 9 July – 7 Aug...

As surely everyone in the world must know by now, USDA will release a number of important reports on Friday, 28 June. These include USDA's survey-based est...

Milling Wheat The wheat market in the Black Sea was rather quiet last week. Market sentiment remains bearish, as weather development has been favorable for...

Permanent Law Threat Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nevada) is providing House Republican leaders with the message they need on the farm bill. He sai...

General Comments The collapse in the equity markets around the world continued today as questions about liquidity continued to plague the markets. The U.S...

China's New Wheat Price Rises for Active Acquisition China's Ministry of Agriculture's latest release indicates approximately 17.47 million hectares of whe...

We have been arguing for a few months that world wheat production estimates for a 700-plus MMT world wheat crop are too large. USDA did trim its production...

The Supreme Court will not hear a case against the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) decision to approve E15 fuel. At issue were EPA's testing m...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Mon 06/24/2013 3:00 PM Poultry Slaughter NASS4:00 PM Crop Progress NASS Tue 06/25/2013 9:00 AM Food Price Outlook ERS4:00 PM Weekly Weather and Crop Bullet...

General Comments Agricultural markets were wary of what transpired in the world's financial markets the past two days and traded very tentatively.  Tr...

The overall mood of the markets has been so bearish over the past several months that it was somewhat refreshing to see at least one day, Wednesday, when s...

GEAC Issues New Permits to Allow GM Trials India's Genetic Engineering Appraisal Committee (GEAC) finally has permitted a few companies and research instit...

Mon 06/24/2013 3:00 PM Poultry Slaughter NASS4:00 PM Crop Progress NASS Tue 06/25/2013 9:00 AM Food Price Outlook ERS4:00 PM Weekly Weather and Crop Bullet...

Mandated Choice Renewable Fuels Association President Bob Dineen, faced with a growing lobby against the ethanol mandate, asserted that one of the positive...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Yesterday we wrote that House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-California) called the management of the farm bill "major amateur hour." We also predicted th...

Biotech in the Face Activists are working hard to pass bills at the state level requiring the labeling of biotech foods but the federal government today ce...

Indian Vegoil Imports Continue to Rise India's imports of vegoils have continued to grow thus far in the 2012/13 marketing year, with palm oil accounting f...

General Comments Grain and soy futures markets faced a triple whammy today. One part came from the fickle weather models. When the models portrayed an outl...

Today's unusual defeat in the U.S. House of a major farm bill proposal reflects many new dynamics, not the least of which is the urbanization of America.&n...

Exports have traditionally played an important role in the supply and demand outlook each year for the three most important (as measured by planted area) U...

The House of Representatives today voted down the farm bill by a vote of 195-234. This is the first time in recent memory that a farm bill has failed. As c...

Tomorrow is the USDA monthly Cattle on Feed report. The industry pre-report estimate is that placements in May will total 95.9 percent of May 2012 because...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Climate Smokescreen: Germans are said to treasure their privacy, and they are none too pleased with the recent revelation that the U.S. has been spying on...

This morning the House brought up the rule governing debate on amendments to the farm bill. It was immediately met with a point of order, which was raised...

General Comments Trading volume overnight was better than average as grain and soy prices sampled both sides of yesterday's closes. After today, only six f...

Russian Grain Markets: 12-18 June 2013 Planting Updates As of 13 June, spring grain and leguminous crops were planted on 30.4 million hectares. This is 100...

Corn ARGENTINE EXPORTERS CANCEL FAS CORN CONTRACTS Argentine exporters recently cancelled some FAS corn purchases because of delays delivering the product...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Farm Bill Atmosphere The setup is not pretty. A divided U.S. House of Representatives, split between two parties and further fractured within the Republica...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

General Comments Overnight price action for grains and soybeans was mostly higher in light-to-moderate volume in response to even higher old crop cash basi...

Europeans Buy Indian Soymeal European importers have in the last few days purchased about 80,000 MT of Indian soymeal for importation in June and July. The...

The House Rules Committee is meeting today to report out a rule on which amendments to the Farm Bill will be ruled in order during the floor consideration,...

Never has the renewability of agricultural crop resources been better demonstrated than by the current prospects for U.S. corn and soybean production for 2...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Turkey looks to be having a very good year for grain crops, as wheat, barley and corn production are al...

USDA will publish in tomorrow's Federal Register two proposed actions to reduce the chance of sugar forfeitures. As USDA has noted, the May 2013 USDA WASDE...

China Conducts Soil Pollution Survey On 13 June, China's Ministry of Land and Resources announced that the government plans to conduct a nationwide survey...

General Comments There was not a lot of fresh news overnight and today for the grain and oilseed markets to trade. That was the case last Friday as well an...

Development ConundrumThe U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a report warning of the adverse impacts on the environment from economic develop...

There have been many questions about the potential number of acres in North Dakota that will not get planted and, instead, go to Prevented Plant (PP) under...

Milling Wheat The sentiment in the trade is more and more bearish, as the harvest is already starting in the Southern parts of the EU, Ukraine and Russia,...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

The House of Representatives is preparing for the farm bill to come to the floor for debate next Wednesday. The House Rules Committee is meeting on Monday,...

General Comments It was a slow trading session with very little news to push prices either way. Argentina's farmers will start a five-day strike tomorrow...

Label Police: The British "consumer watchdog" group Which? has produced plenty of silly and, at least from a pure economics standpoint, illogical critiques...

India to Retain Top Slot for Meat Exports According to the Agricultural and Processed Foods Export Development Authority (APEDA), the value of Indian meat...

Now that USDA has released its June WASDE numbers and U.S. winter wheat production estimates, the markets will have suffer to find bullish news until the 2...

Earlier this week we declared 10 June to be National Swaps Day. Banking institutions that are not otherwise considered swaps dealers or major swaps partici...

General Comments Helped along by yesterday's bearish WASDE, trader sentiment has rapidly shifted from concern about late planting to the assumption that "r...

No Major Changes to USDA Soybeans Supply and Demand Forecast USDA made only a few changes to its supply and demand forecasts for soybeans yesterday, and al...

TTIP Long-View: The likely lengthy negotiation period for a Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact (TTIP) is now looking even longer. Already the effort w...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

WASDE, Mid-Year Change in Trends USDA's June WASDE contained some trends that deviate from beginning-of-the-year expectations. Total meat production in 201...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Pivotal TTIP/TPP Moment: The EU Council will vote Friday on the negotiation mandate to be used in the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Pact (TTIP) with t...

Russian Grain Markets: 5 June - 11 June 2013 Planting Updates As of 6 June, spring grain crops were planted on 30.2 million hectares. This is 99.8 percent...

General Comments THE JUNE WASDE As expected, USDA's June WASDE contains no major surprises, but its overall tone is bearish. There were a few minor surpris...

Upcoming Campaign Situation Farming in Argentina currently is not having an easy time of it, as the increased production costs have complicated farmers' pr...

China Approves Three Biotech Soybean Events Argentina's Agriculture Minister Norberto Yauhar said China has approved three additional biotech soybean event...

Without doubt, import safeguards, as practiced by many countries, are a frustration for the world's food exporters. Some of that frustration compelled USTR...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Whenever problems become large enough or important enough to attract national attention -- or at least the attention of the national press -- politicians a...

The Senate passed the farm bill last night by a vote of 66-27. Seven Senators did not vote. Only two Democrats, Senators Jake Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse (...

General Comments Grain and soy markets were lightly traded overnight, and they lacked much in the way of price direction. Traders are very much aware of to...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS A recent study on Saudi Arabia has determined that the country will have to remain dependent on other c...

Comical Trade Input: Many mainstream agricultural groups have submitted comments to U.S. trade negotiators on their desired objectives in the transatlantic...

Contaminated Rice May Result in More Imports Rice in Hunan, China's largest rice-producing province, was found to contain excessive amounts of cadmium. New...

USDA will release its June supply and demand estimates (WASDE) this Wednesday at 11 a.m. CDT. Those who might be looking for big changes in acreage or yiel...

Swimming Around for Profits All proteins are in demand, but aquaculture holds a unique and very bright future in global markets. Growth Areas for Global Oi...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

General Comments We've been in a weather market, and the problem has been too much rain and delayed planting across the United States. It was wet across th...

It is June, halfway through CY 2013, and thus far no required volume obligations (RVOs) have been set for the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). The U.S. Envir...

Milling Wheat The weather in Eastern Europe is favorable for the development of winter wheat. After the recent rains in Ukraine and southern Russia, the ma...

Land Options: While the U.S. harvests cereals from about 35 percent of its arable land and Brazil crops grain and oilseeds on around 26 percent of its arab...

The House Appropriations subcommittee marked up the FY 2014 Agriculture, Rural Development, Food and Drug Administration, and Related Agencies appropriatio...

General Comments Weather during weekends in June typically is involved in futures price direction. This upcoming weekend is an example, as Midwestern farme...

Poultry Industry May Not Grow as Expected India's poultry industry showed steady growth over the last few years. Hatcheries placed 15 million broilers per...

New crop markets have had an overwhelmingly bearish attitude. This started back in February with the USDA's Outlook Conference projections for big planted...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

General Comments Perhaps the biggest story coming from today's markets has to do with the rapid decline of the U.S. dollar against every other major curren...

Unsteadying U.S.-Mexico Meat Trade Mexico is a major supplier of feeder cattle to the United States. This is an important role given the fact that the U.S...

Patri Oikonomia: London's Daily Telegraph reports that Pope Francis criticized consumerism and said that, "Throwing away food is like stealing from the tab...

There is an old cliché to the effect that "rain makes grain." The truth of this cannot be disputed. Adequate and timely rainfall is essential to the develo...

The Senate today invoked cloture on the farm bill, meaning that debate is now limited to 30 hours. That limit should pare the number of amendments offered...

Argentine Farmers Considering Sales Stoppage as Protest Argentina's farm groups are considering implementing a strike in the next couple of months during w...

Some are likely calling Ernest Barnes, a wheat farmer in Kansas, an opportunistic ambulance chaser. He is suing Monsanto because last week's discovery of b...

Russian Grain Markets: 28 May – 4 June 2013 Planting Updates As of 3 June, spring grain crops were planted on 27.4 million hectares, which is 90.6 percent...

Soybeans Soybean basis levels continued to drop, and there seems to be no end in sight. After trading mid-June at +30 SN for July shipment, basis collapsed...

General Comments The pessimism about further planting delays for corn, soybeans and spring wheat generated by last weekend's heavy rains and the lingering...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

The Senate resumed consideration of the farm bill yesterday and adopted two amendments.The 2012 Senate farm bill pitted northern crops against southern cro...

Playing Fair in Wheat and Cars: Japanese officials say they are blocking U.S. white wheat as a "precautionary" measure because they don't have a way to ins...

General Comments There was light selling across the agricultural markets overnight and throughout today's trading session. Only July corn futures and July...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Turkish crop production estimates for 2013 show the following: 7.9 MMT of barley, 5.0 of MMT corn and 2...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Argentina Lowers Soymeal Protein Guarantee Argentina's oilseed processing association (CIARA) recently notified all of the country's buyers of soymeal that...

Last Friday we took a look at the delayed planting progress and zeroed in on North Dakota. Yesterday Bob Kohlmeyer wrote about weather and planting from a...

China Aims to Rebrand Domestic Dairy Industry According to the China Dairy Association, China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) expects t...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Mother Nature certainly can give good weather, but she can also take it away. She has done some of both recently. She ignored Mike Krueger's plea in this r...

General Comments A pretty good way to describe today's grain and soy futures market is simply to point out that corn futures prices traded in a 21- to 25-c...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) circulated a memo on Friday outlining the upcoming schedule for the House in June. Upon returning tomorrow,...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market was actively trading last week. The weather in Ukraine and southern Russia has been favorable during the last two...

Today is 31 May. This is an important crop insurance date because it is the "drop-dead" date for crop insurance planting in many states, especially in the...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

The Senate will reconvene on Monday, 3 June and resume the farm bill debate. It will vote on the Moran amendment and the Coons-Johanns amendment.Alfalfa: W...

Weak Rupee: Good for Exports , Bad for Imports The Indian rupee this week declined to a 10-month low. It was the weakest Asian currency against the U.S. do...

General Comments The soy complex was firm overnight, and that "firmness" turned to outright strength as the day wore on. It was a puzzling market for those...

South America Soy Headed to the U.S. Last week there were reports from Brazil that eight to 10 cargoes of soybeans and/or soymeal had been booked to ship t...

In yesterday's market commentary we noted (as did Gary Blumenthal in his policy comments) that the owners of the largest Chinese meat packing company, Shua...

Rushing to Judgment: The discovery of some glyphosate-resistant wheat in an Oregon farm field prompted the EU to request the detection protocol from Monsan...

Corn Argentina exported 2.9 MMT of corn in April and 2.5 MMT in March. Approximately 3 MMT will be exported in May, and we can expect about 3 MMT of corn e...

Smithfield Foods, the largest pork producer in the world, has been bought by China's largest meat producer, Shuanghui International Holdings Ltd. Shuanghui...

Russian Export Updates As of 22 May, Russia exported 14.9 MMT of grain since the beginning of MY 2012/13. Grain exports made during 1-22 May amounted to 32...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

General Comments In overnight trading, grain and soy futures prices moved back and forth on both sides of the previous closes. Volume was fairly good even...

Russian Grain Markets: 20-28 May 2013 Planting Updates As of May 27, spring grain crops were planted on 23.1 million hectares, including 8.5 million hectar...

General Comments The question of whether the recent rain makes grain or reduces planted corn acreage is being debated, but determining the answer to the qu...

Xenophobic Hogwash: Shuanghui International's purchase of U.S. meatpacking giant Smithfield has brought out all the xenophobic anti-business lunatics. Ther...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

When Congress reconvenes on 3 June, the Senate farm bill debate is likely to turn to ethanol and biofuel issues related to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS...

General Comments Surprisingly heavy rain fell across parts of Iowa, Illinois and the northern Corn Belt over the long weekend as a frontal system stalled o...

EU Formally Imposes AD Duties on Biodiesel As expected, the EU today formally imposed anti-dumping duties on biodiesel imports from Argentina and Indonesia...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS A Lebanese company announced that it will invest up to $800 million in agricultural projects in Sudan t...

Next autumn, when we look back at the 2013/14 U.S. corn and soybean crops and the cash and futures markets, we just might conclude that the last full week...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments Markets will be closed on Monday for the Memorial Day holiday.Markets were relatively quiet in the overnight session on limited volume ahe...

The Senate met today in pro forma session and will not reconvene until Monday, 3 June after the Memorial Day recess. When the Senate does come back on 3 Ju...

Monday is the Memorial Day holiday in the U.S. and all markets will be closed. The Memorial Day weekend signals the start of summer, which means we are als...

Indian Grain Exports Wheat prices have rallied at market yards, exceeding $286/MT on the exchange and reaching $282/MT for the spot price in Delhi. The gov...

Crop Insurance Challenge: Any angst over a U.S. Senate vote to reduce crop insurance benefits to the top 1 percent richest farmers seems overdone. Amendmen...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

General Comments Soy and wheat prices moved higher in overnight trade while corn prices edged lower. It appeared to be short covering in wheat and soybeans...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

COOL: New Rule to Be Challenged The U.S. today issued a final rule modifying its country of origin labeling (COOL) statute to satisfy the WTO's ruling on t...

Historically, the U.S. has been the world's dominant producer of grains and oilseeds. As such, the U.S. was also by far the world's leading supplier of gra...

UnCOOL Enough to be Changed: The final country of origin labeling (COOL) rule remains offensive to everyone, including groups supportive of the concept. Me...

Argentina's Selective IPR Protection The government of Argentina plans to submit legislation to Congress later this year that would require large farmers t...

Today was day four of voting on the Senate farm bill. The following is a recap of today's action.At the time of this report, Senator Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

CropLife America hosted its annual National Policy Conference, to which it invites the opponents of conventional agriculture to come and debate the issues...

The Senate took up the farm bill again this afternoon, but it was also scheduled to vote on a resolution supporting the full implementation of U.S. and int...

General Comments After relatively dull overnight trading that mostly featured more unwinding of old/new crop spreads but little by way of price direction,...

Wheat Argentine wheat is very hot in the domestic market. Argentine millers are desperately trying to buy wheat for their needs, but prices for the cereal...

Russian Grain Markets: 13-17 May 2013 Planting Updates As of 15 May, spring crops were planted on 22.4 million hectares (44 percent of the target area). Gr...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

The Senate had no votes on the farm bill Monday night. Because Tuesdays are the day of traditional party caucus meetings and the Senate was in recess for t...

Russia With Love: As we noted back on 3 May, U.S. meat exporters and the Obama Administration are set to give Moscow a big wet kiss on the ractopamine issu...

General Comments USDA's report that corn planting had progressed to 71 percent as of 19 May came as a pleasant surprise. That is only 8 percent below avera...

With prospects for the 2013 corn and soybean crops rapidly improving enough to dismiss production concerns -- at least for now, we can safely turn our atte...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Corn plantings will be promoted in Algeria as a way to try to reduce the country's complete dependence...

Brazilian Ship Lineup for Soybeans Declining Data from a Brazilian maritime agency last week shows that the lineup of vessels at Brazilian ports to load so...

Milling WheatThe weather in Eastern Europe is far from ideal. Parts of Ukraine and Southern Russia have received some beneficial rains since the beginning...

China's poultry industry loss reached $6.5 billion after bird flu outbreak According to a recent report by the China Animal Agriculture Association, losses...

TTIP Red Lines At the same time EU Trade Commissioner Karel de Gucht was warning his fellow Europeans against drawing red lines on trade issues before thei...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Farm Bill on Senate Floor for Debate After passing a farm bill out of Committee last week on Tuesday 14 May, the Senate officially took up the farm bill on...

General Comments Old crop corn and soybean futures were strong last night and for the first few hours today before selling showed up and dropped markets fr...

Net farm income (profits) has been on an amazing roll for several consecutive years, with 2012 apparently establishing another record all-time high. The ke...

General Comments It was a quiet, low volume trading session the first half of the day, with wheat and corn generally lower and soybeans swinging back and f...

The delivery period for the May futures contracts is finished, and it provided an interesting look at how the super strong cash markets finally had an impa...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

The House Energy and Commerce Committee is continuing its review of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Last week it released a third white paper on greenho...

National Food Security: Mission Unaccomplished India's parliamentary budget session ended in confusion, and the government (GOI) was unable to clear some c...

The Senate and House Agriculture Committees have passed their respective farm bill drafts. The Senate bill passed by a vote of 15-5 (the same as in 2012) o...

NOPA April Crush Report Shows Expected Big Decline Yesterday's NOPA crush report for April 2013 shows that its members sharply reduced their soybean crush...

It is springtime, and for those who are involved with or interested in grain and oilseed production, transportation, storage, processing and/or exporting,...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Pseudo Farm Bill Issues: USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack told us NPR listeners that he thought the new farm bill, which he described as a "food, farm and jobs"...

General Comments Weather forecasts gain importance each day. Although corn planting progress across the Midwest has been impressive these last few days, th...

Soybeans The Argentine soybean market has been quite boring as far as trading goes. Most traders have been dedicated to issues with executing shipments. Th...

General Comments Grain and soy markets were a bit lower in overnight trade, mainly, it seemed, because there was an absence of news that might encourage hi...

The House Agriculture Committee began its farm bill markup this morning. Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Oklahoma) and Ranking Minority Member Collin Peterson (D-M...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Russian Grain Markets: 6-10 May 2013 Planting Updates As of 6 May, spring crops were planted on 13.8 million hectares (27.2 percent of the planned area), w...

USDA's report released last Friday included its first forecasts for U.S. and global supply and demand for oilseeds and products for the 2013/14 marketing y...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS There has been some tightening of Turkey's GMO inspection rules in the past couple of weeks. This mainl...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

The Senate Agriculture Committee today passed its version of the 2013 Farm Bill by a 15-5 vote. Voting against the bill were Senators Mitch McConnell (R-Ke...

General Comments The grain and soy futures market was in a consolidating mode after the big price run-up yesterday. Traders were not willing to say that ye...

The May futures contracts expired today without any deliveries of soybeans, corn or soybean meal. And why should there have been deliveries? The value of a...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

The Senate Agriculture Committee will begin its markup of the 2013 Farm Bill tomorrow, and the House Agriculture Committee is likely to follow suit on Wedn...

General Comments Basis levels for corn and soybeans continue to soar higher, and there was still some open interest left in the May contracts that expire t...

One of the things that stood out in USDA's May WASDE was that total U.S. exports of wheat, corn and soybeans will again be significantly lower than those o...

China's Small- to Medium-Sized Ethanol Plants Struggle to Survive China's small- to medium-sized ethanol plants have been struggling to survive because of...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market is very quiet. The old crop market is now completely disregarded, and the focus has switched to the weather develo...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Preparing for next week's markups, both the Senate and House Agriculture Committees have released their marks. The Senate bill is the Agriculture Reform, F...

General Comments There was nothing bullish going on in any commodity today. Metals were sharply lower, energy markets were sharply lower, the dollar was sh...

Indian Wheat Exports: To Be or Not to Be? The trade has lowered its estimate for the Indian wheat crop from 92 MMT or more to 82-85 MMT. The government of...

The tables below show today's USDA report numbers compared to last year's. In general, the numbers were bearish, although not quite as bearish as expected...

Biotech Fairy Tale: USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack reportedly told congressional appropriators that legislation intended to prevent disruptions in crop product...

The topic of U.S. food aid programs seldom garners a lot of public attention, but it never goes away either. Like the proverbial bad penny, the topic of fo...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments Overnight trade in grains and soy was mixed in terms of price action and light in terms of volume. However, by the time the day session be...

No Egg Layer Welfare Language in Senate Farm Bill Mark Last week we wrote that a number of commodity groups had been told that Senate Agriculture Committee...

Farm Bill Outtakes: The Senate Agriculture Committee has a draft farm bill for next week's markup, and it reflects some expected changes and some controver...

Big Increase in Ukrainian Oilseed Production Forecasted The Ukrainian consulting firm UkrAgroConsult this week forecasted a big increase in that country's...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments We cannot claim even the slightest expertise in the sugar market, sugar trading or USDA's price support program for sugar. According to wh...

Due to the May holidays, market activity in Ukraine and Russia has slackened and there has been little price development. Business will resume as usual at...

Corn The Argentine corn lineup surprises us every day. The volume shipped during the first few months of the campaign was almost a record. March loadings a...

Greedy in Bali: Roberto Carvalho de Azevedo of Brazil is the new WTO Director General. While there is initial hope that he can guide the organization...

Farm Bill Markup: The U.S. Senate Agriculture Committee will markup its version of a farm bill (similar to the one passed last year) next Tuesday and the f...

Both the House and Senate Agriculture Committees are taking the next step in the farm bill process when they markup farm bills next week. But then again, t...

General Comments In another "Turnaround Tuesday" market, grains and the soy complex traded mostly higher overnight in light volume as USDA's crop progress...

Brazilian Soybean Cargo Headed to the U.S. A Brazilian maritime agency last week issued a ship lineup report that indicated a cargo of approximately 27,000...

USDA reported that planting of the U.S 2013/14 corn crop was only 12 percent complete as of 5 May, which is the second slowest corn planting pace on record...

Numerillogical at the Top There are problems in the agricultural data field, but its quantity and quality do improve over time. Meanwhile, decisions at the...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Wheat exports from Germany to Iran have continued at a good clip in 2013 with about 120,000 MT exported...

A week ago the market couldn't buy enough corn and wheat because the corn crop wasn't going to get planted. Today some analysts were saying the year's pric...

While the effort to reform the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) is running apace in Congress, a number of interests are weighing in on the actual farm bill's...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

China to Build a Unified Reserve Grain Trading System China plans to build a unified reserve grain trading center under supervision from the China National...

TTIP Coherence on Unsafe Food: Taking full advantage of the horsemeat scandal, the European Commission today proposed the harmonization of the Continent's...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market was quiet last week partly because of the holidays (1 May and Orthodox Easter) but also because of the very slow d...

General Comments The extended weather forecasts look warmer and drier, which was all the market needed to know to make the assumption that the spring weath...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

General Comments "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning." Winston Churchill should...

Policymaking Washington is anticipating a farm bill process that will kick off officially very soon. Now is a good time to take stock of what we do and do...

Annual crop quality tours took place across Kansas and Oklahoma this week. In the final analysis, production estimates came in well below the pre-tour expe...

Poultry Processing Sector's Expanding Scope India places about 55-60 million birds a week and is possibly the fifth-largest poultry meat producer, but its...

Counter-Offensive Needed: Conventional agriculture and biotechnology will continue to be the soft-bellied target of the activist community until the latter...

A cooling Chinese economy and more trouble in the Middle East were the top prognostications in WPI's last online survey. Our latest survey question address...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

High Indian Soy Prices Driven By a Squeeze Caused by Few Traders On Tuesday I wrote about India's extremely high prices for soybeans, soymeal and soyoil. S...

General Comments Grain and soy markets continued their choppy price action overnight and again today. According to the pattern, today was supposed to be an...

Egg Layer Welfare Bill in Senate Farm Bill Mark A number of commodity groups reportedly were told that Senate Agriculture Committee Chairwoman Debbie Stabe...

One of the most durable of political chestnuts, the U.S. Food for Peace program will be celebrating its 60th anniversary in 2014. Food for Peace is the for...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Bali Heat: In preparations for the WTO Ministerial in Bali in December, the U.S. is emphasizing eliminating export restrictions, liberalizing trade and rem...

Soybeans The Paranagua paper market has been depreciating. May traded at +5 SK in March, and it has since dropped to -58 SK. That is an incredible drop in...

Russian Grain Markets: 24-30 April 2013 Planting Updates As of 25 April, spring crops were planted on 6.2 million hectares, up 1.9 million hectares compare...

General Comments Today's price action in grains and the soy complex again followed the recent pattern of changing direction each day. On Monday markets wer...

Conventional wisdom among many traders of grain futures is that USDA's unexpectedly huge 1 March quarterly corn stocks estimate killed the long-term bull m...

General Comments Grain and soy futures markets continued their up-one-day, down-the-next pattern, with wheat being the exception. Wheat prices hit a o...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

As Bob Kohlmeyer is fond of saying, farm bills are often written to cure the last problem agriculture faced. Moreover, farm bills for decades have been tie...

Half Right = Half Wrong: Economists can probably get science half right. Botanist Ian Crute this week showed that scientists can get economics half right,...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS In a further expansion in Middle East agricultural investments, Al Dahra Agriculture, a UAE-based compa...

Tight Soybean Supplies Drive High Soymeal and Soyoil Prices in India This time of the year India is normally the near-least or least expensive source of so...

The U.S. suffered from drought last year and the current weather has made it too wet to plant so far this year. Meanwhile, China has been suffering from an...

Temperatures soared across the Northern Plains this past weekend and reached the 70s in many areas. The snow melt was rapid and rivers were rising quickly...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

China's Milk Price Continues to Rise It is estimated that China's milk price will increase by 5.3 percent in 2013 because domestic demand outpaces producti...

General Comments Today was all about weather. Weekend forecasts were much cooler and wetter across the guts of the Corn Belt than what some models looked l...

General Comments It was another trading session last night and today that beared no resemblance to the previous session. That has been the pattern in recen...

Any remaining market bulls certainly must now consider themselves "snakebit" following the CME's decision to declare force majeure and suspend the delivery...

Soybean Meal Prices Drop, But Not Enough for Exports Soybean meal prices on the exchange and physical markets have corrected in the last two weeks (since t...

Typically, one reason why a subcabinet official is nominated to be an agency head is because it is an expedited process. The subcabinet official was once v...

Response to Biotech Labeling: Legislation introduced by 10 U.S. senators (none from major farm states) would require labeling of foods produced with biotec...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

CSPI Risky Meat Report The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) -- the organization that brought us scares over Chinese food, trans fatty acids...

Disagree with AGree: The group AGree was formed by various charitable organizations to "to drive positive change in the food and agriculture system." The g...

General Comments The grain and soy markets opened the overnight session in mixed and tentative form, but prices soon moved into the green. Weather model ru...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Lethal Chinese Avian Flu Baffles Experts A team of flu experts from the World Health Organization (WHO) were in China this week to seek answers on how to d...

The full story of the 2012/13 year for U.S. soybeans and soy products is yet to be written. When it can be written, the 2012/13 year for the soy complex pr...

Soybeans MARKET UPDATE Although lineups at Brazilian ports remain extremely long, the situation has improved somewhat this month. The waiting time at Paran...

General Comments Weather models giveth, and they taketh away. Today's model runs seem to shrink the window of opportunity for field work and corn planting...

I am traveling this week in Asia for meetings with soybean processors in Korea and Thailand on behalf of the U.S. Soybean Export Council (USSEC). Both are...

Russian Grain Markets: 17-23 April 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,902 MT of grain for exchange trading on 17 April and 64,...

Reversal of Climate Fortunes: Before the Great Recession, Europe and Japan signed on to the Kyoto Protocol's obligation of reducing greenhouse gas emission...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The IMF has reached a $1.75 billion two-year finance agreement with Tunisia. Now all that is required i...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

General Comments An improving Midwest weather outlook, especially in the 10- to 15-day slot, lent a weaker tone to grain and soy markets overnight and agai...

Politics is the art of the possible, as the saying goes, and the possibilities for the 2013 Farm Bill will be shaped by a number of political factors. We a...

The spring of 2013 is here, sort of, and grain and soy futures markets turn toward analyzing prospects for the new crops that will be sown during the next...

EWG Ears Boxed: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued a report on antimicrobial resistance, and the Environmental Working Group (EWG) used an...

Milling Wheat The wheat market in the Black Sea was quiet last week. Tunisia bought 50,000 MT at $325 and $330 for June shipment. These prices were conside...

Foodie Michael Pollan continues his anti-agribusiness diatribe in his latest book, "Cooked: A Natural History of Transformation." Noting that people curren...

China's Livestock and Feed Industry Impacted by H7N9 The Chinese government announced that the H7N9 bird flu strain has infected 87 people as of 19 April...

U.S. GDP is likely to grow for the first quarter (Q1) of 2013. The new number will be out on Friday, 26 April. Indeed, a number of market watchers have bee...

We all know how crazy volatile commodity markets have been in recent years, and none more so than the past year or so. Agricultural commodity markets have...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

General Comments If you only looked at how corn, wheat and soybean markets were trading today, you would assume that temperatures had warmed to above norma...

The bulk grain transportation monopoly that exists in Western Australia (WA) through Commodity Bulk Handling (CBH) is coming to an end. The Australian Comp...

India's Corn Price Needs to Correct Indian corn is being offered for export to the Southeast Asia region at $255/MT FOB East Coast. Most of the stocks bein...

House Agriculture Committee Chairman Frank Lucas (R-Oklahoma) has announced his intention to convene a markup for the 2013 Farm Bill on or about 15 May. Th...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

General Comments It was another relatively quiet trading session with light to moderate volume. Prices were steady to higher early in the evening session b...

Chinese Pork Update Chinese consumers are showing an aversion to meat because of the recent animal health scares there. Feeder pig prices in China are now...

Profits in Perspective: The Financial Times recently implied excessive profiting by a handful of owners of global grain trade firms by highlighting that ne...

General Comments Grain and oilseed markets were steady to firm overnight and gained some strength when the open outcry session started to trade. The weekly...

Corn DEMAND CONTINUES TO APPEAR The Argentine corn market continues to have a lot of movement. In previous reports we mentioned that nearby demand was most...

Argentina Raises Biodiesel Blend Requirement The government of Argentina announced that effective 1 June, the percentage of biodiesel required to be blende...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Heavy rains swamped portions of the Midwest overnight from Missouri, Iowa and Illinois into Michigan. A cold front produced totals ranging from 1-4 inches...

General Comments After yesterday's price recovery, grain and soy prices opened slightly lower with light profit-taking, but the soy complex was soon bid up...

Russian Grain Markets: 10-16 April 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,935 of grain for exchange trading on 10 April and 64,996...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Regulatory Precaution: Europe and Japan are providing plenty of policy lessons for officials governing other countries. The Washington Post notes how gover...

Gasoline prices always are a key factor in politics each summer, starting from Memorial Day in May, through the busy summer driving and vacation season, to...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

China's Soybean Imports Almost Certain to Decline It is becoming increasingly clear that China's soybean imports in the current marketing year will be lowe...

Flights of Fancy: USDA put a five-year extension on its "Farm to Fly" program intended to support the production of 1 billion gallons of aviation fuel by 2...

  News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Saudi Arabia has been quickly reducing the size of the locally grown wheat crop because of the h...

General Comments Without the drag from the general downdraft from outside financial markets and commodity prices as seen yesterday, it was "Turnaround Tues...

We spent much of the last two days in a flat boat casting flies in hopes of finding red fish in the shallow grassy waters near the mouth of the Cape Fear R...

The fear of short traders being squeezed may create a temporary rally in the nearby corn and soybean contracts that is larger than recent fundamental data...

Milling Wheat Once again, the Black Sea wheat market was quiet last week. Bulgarian/Romanian wheat remained the cheapest origin for Mediterranean destinati...

China Boosts Pork Reserves to Stabilize Price China's National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC), the country's top planning body, announced on 8 Ap...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

The price of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) continues to generate a lot of attention these days. We first reported on the big bull rally in RIN pr...

General Comments Grain and oilseed markets ignored the collapse in metals and energy prices last Friday, but they didn't ignore it today. Gold got crushed...

The major sell-off in metals and energy markets that started last Friday continued in full force today. Gold futures were down as much as $150 an ounce at...

New Approach Needed: The European Parliament votes tomorrow on a plan to raise the cost of carbon under the carbon emissions trading scheme by delaying the...

Just Label It: After 11 years of claiming its chicken and eggs were not raised on biotech feed, Britain's largest grocery chain Tesco says it is dropping i...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Soymeal Price Correction Important Soybean prices in India have reached a new high of $750/MT in the country's production center, Indore. As a result, loca...

President Obama's FY 2014 budget proposal calls for far greater cuts in farm spending than either the Senate or House farm bills. Overall it provides for $...

General Comments Markets were firm overnight led by soybeans and wheat. Wheat eventually led all markets with big gains that were sustained into the close...

The wait for the northern half of the U.S. and all of Canada to finally warm up looks like it will continue for at least another two weeks and maybe longer...

Russia Meat Trade: Ractopamine or Oil Prices? Russia is extending its ban on North American meat exports. It announced on Monday that about 50 percent of a...

Despite the downturn in 2012 that we discussed a few weeks ago, trade in derivative markets is still enormous and diverse enough to be difficult to compreh...

General Comments Echoes of yesterday's WASDE, fears of freeze damage to new crop HRW, finally a sale of new SRW to China, strong cash bids for soybean and...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Paraguay Rejects DET The lower house of Paraguay's Congress yesterday voted down a proposal to impose a 10 percent export tax on unprocessed soybeans. The...

Balanced RFS Approach: Ethanol proponents saw no reason to reduce the blending rate when a drought caused corn prices to skyrocket and thus forced the adju...

General Comments Today's WASDE contained a little something for everyone. It was considered somewhat bullish for corn, as (not surprisingly) WAOB analysts...

Russian Grain Markets: 3-9 April 2013 The intervention fund put up 64,870 of grain for exchange trading on 9 April.Since the beginning of the public grain...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Budget Proposal Flaws: Like all budget proposals from various presidents, the Obama Administration's proposed FY 2014 spending request reflects a political...

Soybeans The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange last Thursday reported that the Argentine soybean crop was 9 percent harvested, with a 4 percent delay compared to...

The American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) yesterday sent a farm bill proposal to Capitol Hill. Its recommendations for the 2013 Farm Bill were based on "s...

On Wednesday USDA's World Agricultural Outlook Board (WAOB) will release the April WASDE. Frequently, the April WASDE is anti-climactic after the quarterly...

China Lowers Soybean Import Estimate for March, Raises April China's Ministry of Commerce today lowered its estimate for that country's soybean import in M...

Ad Nauseam at 50,000 Feet Opining on agriculture’s “sacralized” issues -- those treated as or made sacred, such as locavorism, veganism,...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Some members of the U.S. House intend to introduce legislation tomorrow that would reform or change the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS). Apparently they are...

General Comments Overnight markets were mixed as corn and soybeans tried to hang on while wheat retreated from yesterday's rally. Wheat's relative weakness...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS At a recent conference in Dubai, speakers called for cooperation between countries in the Middle East i...

Milling Wheat The wheat market in the Black Sea was quiet last week. Several vessels are loading in Bulgaria for Libya and Morocco. About 100,000 MT were l...

Partial Decontrol of the Sugar Industry The Cabinet Committee on Economic Affairs (CCEA) finally has decided to partially decontrol the sugar sector. A few...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

It's budget week in Washington, and a number of fiscal policy matters will be highlighted. These include a plan to minimize the sequester's impact on farm...

The Ruse of COOL: Comments are due by this Thursday on USDA's proposed revision to the country of origin labeling (COOL) requirement. A recent letter with...

General Comments Markets were firm to start the week. The new trading hours took effect yesterday. The markets now open at 7 p.m., close between 7:45 a.m...

China's Fertilizer Imports on the Rise China's January-February fertilizer import volume has increased by as much as 72 percent year-on-year. Out of all fe...

Winter has yet to leave the U.S. Northern Plains. In fact, it hasn't even made a sincere attempt to create a false hope that spring is near. There is signi...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Sugar is a high profile commodity this month. When the April WASDE comes out next week, it will have to factor in some developments in Mexico. The March WA...

Back on 4 February we ran an analysis of what the potential 2013/14 U.S. wheat situation might look like. The table below is from that report.A fair amount...

General Comments Nearby corn and soybeans closed out the week a dollar lower than last week's highs as margin calls took precedence for a time and position...

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) imports 40 MMT of grain each year, over half of which is wheat. Wheat represents half the calories consumed in coun...

Chinese Bird Flu Impacting Soy Market U.S. soybean futures prices fell this week because of concerns that H7N9 will result in a decline in poultry consumpt...

General Comments There was little more news about China's bird flu outbreak overnight, and Chinese markets and many businesses have closed for the long spr...

New Bird Flu in China A strain of bird flu in China not previously known to infect humans now has infected at least 11 people and resulted in at least four...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Insider trading has become a topic du jour among traders in financial markets. Recently the financial news has been filled with stories about alleged insid...

Some developments that are interesting, or disturbing, or just plain stupid ...Cold War Redux: The U.S. suggested that South Korea join the Trans-Pacific P...

It's All About Logistics in Brazil Note: This is a continuation of our section about Brazil's logistical problem in last week's report (see WPI 27 March).W...

General Comments Chinese authorities have reported that a newly identified strain of bird flu has caused a number of deaths and serious illnesses in recent...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Farm Bill Larder: The Senate Agriculture Committee plans to markup a 2013 Farm Bill before the end of the month, and committee member Kirsten Gillibrand (D...

Russian Grain Markets: 27 March – 2 April 2013 The intervention fund put up 64,950 MT of grain for exchange trading on 27 March and 64,903 MT of grain on 2...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Al Dahra Company of Abu Dhabi announced that it is investing $400 million to purchase eight Serbian far...

General Comments The shockingly high 1 March corn stocks reported by USDA triggered enormous trading volume in corn futures. CME corn futures volume last T...

Last Thursday's USDA Prospective Plantings report indicated U.S. soybean planted area in 2013 will be almost unchanged from last year. I continue to feel t...

Born and Killed: USDA's proposed revision of the country of origin labeling (COOL) to bring it into compliance with a WTO ruling is not just excessively bu...

Free-market economist Milton Friedman might have believed that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but West Virginia is trying to be the first state in...

As we looked at USDA's quarterly stocks estimates last Thursday, for some reason we were reminded of a favorite uncle who passed away many years ago. He wo...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

New Chinese Premier Li Keqiang last week stressed the importance of developing modern agriculture and scale farming in China. During his research tour to t...

Trust Politicians More than Scientists: David Kessler, a former commissioner of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) writes in The New York Times th...

General Comments Markets started the week with steep losses in corn. That was expected after the limit-down close last Thursday on the heels of the spectac...

The old corn market suffered a sudden and inexplicable death last Thursday when USDA pegged 1 March corn stocks to be about 400 million bushels (11 MMT) la...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

New Year Prospects for India's Economy The new fiscal year in India has begun, which means there are new goals for the country's economy. India's economic...

China Enters Peak Season for Corn Purchases Corn prices and domestic sales volume in northern and northeastern China, the country's major corn production a...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Prospective Plantings Report Indicates Small Drop in Soybean Plantings Today's USDA Prospective Plantings report indicated U.S. farmers intend to plant sli...

Note: Grain and soy futures markets (and WPI) are closed tomorrow, 29 March, for the Good Friday holiday. They will reopen Sunday evening. General Comme...

Congress passed the Colombia Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in October 2011. The impact of the FTA, which went into effect in May 2012, already is being felt i...

We commented yesterday that if USDA's 1 March corn stocks estimate were to present the kind of erratic surprise that has become an established pattern for...

East Asia Trade Bloc: Japan, China and South Korea completed the first round of talks intended to achieve a free trade agreement. No one should expect the...

General Comments The last full trading session before tomorrow's key reports from USDA was understandably a light volume affair. Any trader wishing to posi...

It's All About Logistics in Brazil It is not surprising that Brazil has a logistical problem, nor is it news that the current campaign is probably the wors...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Green Versus Trade: The National Association of Manufacturers sent a letter to President Obama urging that he successfully negotiate a Transatlantic Trade...

Russian Grain Markets: 20-26 March 2013 The intervention fund put up 64,950 MT of grain for exchange trading on 20 March and 64,953 MT of grain on 26 March...

General Comments The main topic for market discussion is Thursday's quarterly stocks and planting intentions reports from USDA, of course. However, a secon...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

2012 was a tough year for the derivatives industry. The year opened with the industry still trying to deal with the fallout from the collapse of MF Global...

FAO Mediocrity: While the FAO itself makes a few valuable contributions, one of the criteria for becoming its director general is the ability to repeatedly...

China Buys Australian Rapeseed I wrote last week that China and Australia reached agreement to liberalize Chinese imports of Australian rapeseed. China pre...

News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Is it the end of the world as we know it? Speaking from personal knowledge, the banking crisis in Cypru...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Over the course of the past few months we have written often about how good things are "down on the farm" in the United States. Net farm income has been se...

Senators Ron Wyden (D-Oregon) and Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska) last Friday sent a letter to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency's (EPA) acting Administra...

General Comments Markets were softer overnight on extremely light volume. Fewer than 1,000 May soybean contracts traded in the first hour or so. Corn gradu...

Crop Diversification How much water does corn require, and how much do soybeans need? Experts suggest corn requires 500-800 millimeters and that the crop n...

Skyrocketing Food Safety: Food and Chemical News reported that the White House Office of Management and Budget (OMB) watered down regulatory requirements f...

Dead Pigs Found in Shanghai River Earlier this month dead pigs were found floating through China's commercial hub, Shanghai. As of 20 March, local authorit...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

The biofuel reform process in Congress has begun. The House Energy and Commerce Committee announced that it will publish a series of five white papers on R...

With so many petty and small complaints, things must be not too bad in this world. So here are some small reactions to go along with them.Junk Science: The...

Anyone who has spent any time in the military or in college for sure knows what "guts poker" is, and maybe everyone else does as well. Guts poker is what t...

General Comments Grain prices were lower overnight led by double-digit losses in soybeans at one point. Trading volume was very light overnight and didn't...

Milling Wheat The EU allocated 538,000 MT of wheat export licenses, bringing the total to 14.7 MMT (excluding durum and flour) versus 10.3 MMT allocated at...

General Comments Overnight trade in grain and soy futures saw a reversal of recent trends. Wheat and corn incurred some selling by traders seeking to cash...

EU Margarine Industry Lowers Trans Fats Maximum The International Margarine Association of the Countries of Europe (IMACE) has tightened its voluntary code...

Today's USDA Daily Boxed Beef Cutout Value report showed that rare phenomenon of an inverted Choice-Select price spread. Cutout values for Choice beef were...

Cost of Bipartisanship: The continuing resolution signed into law by President Obama ensures there will be no government shutdown next week and is being ha...

A week from today, 28 March, USDA will release its quarterly estimate of grain and soybean stocks as of 1 March, along with its report on the initial sprin...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Respondents to our recent online survey regarding expected U.S. economic growth this year were decidedly on the bearish side (see graph below). A sub-par 2...

Russian Grain Markets: 13-19 March 2013 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,917 MT of grain for exchange trading on 13 March and 64,...

General Comments Among topics for the market's consideration, weather is constantly at the forefront. Agricultural production in various important regions...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Wheat The Argentine government's intervention made a mess of the 2012/13 wheat campaign. Production was lower than expected and the crop's quality was a su...

There has been much said about the recent flight of managed money from grain and soy futures markets in search of greener pastures, and the record setting...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS The Egyptian government announced on Sunday that it is cutting the wheat flour subsidy to bakeries and that the flour will be s...

General Comments Grain and soy futures prices were mixed to mostly firmer overnight with corn the leader, supported by ongoing concerns about supplies acce...

Given the federal government's current fiscal condition, the newly imposed sequestration of federal spending, mounting federal debt and several years of re...

Activity in the Chicago SRW wheat market spilled over into those for HRW and HRS wheat futures. Changes in the soybean, soyoil, and soymeal futures point t...

Chinese Farmers Complain About Large Soybean Imports Farmers in China's Heilongjiang province are complaining to the government that they are being hurt by...

Contrasting TTIP Views: Not only are the U.S. and EU far from agreement on a trade pact, but politicians and pundits also are far from agreement on its pro...

It was 19 degrees Fahrenheit in Fargo, North Dakota this morning and we are in the middle of a winter blizzard. All schools and many businesses closed. On...

Last week the first swap transactions were required to be cleared at central clearinghouses to decrease systemic risk in the swap markets under Dodd-Frank...

General Comments Markets opened steady to a penny lower yesterday, but gradually weakened as the Cyprus story unfolded and world financial markets started...

Today's closing prices for the first six listed futures contracts for major grain, oilseed, and livestock contracts are shown along with their price change...

Whole Foods Fools: Walter Robb, co-CEO of the foodie marketing chain Whole Foods, last week announced that his grocery chain would require the labeling of...

Sinograin to Secure Corn Procurement for Reserves Sinograin has repeatedly improved corn procurement in north and northeast China since last fall. Further,...

Chinese Investment in India Foreign direct investment (FDI) is allowed in India, but not all sectors are open to Chinese investment. Still, Chinese busines...

It feels like we have been writing and talking about the exact same news for a very long time. It is not that this "old news" isn't important. On the contr...

Milling Wheat The wheat market in the Black Sea remained quiet this week. Bulgaria has a remaining surplus of about 300,000 MT and is now the only orig...

WPI provides a summary of the week's futures price activity and the gains/losses experiences by grain, oilseed, and livestock markets. Additionally, today'...

Litigation Progresses: The dispute settlement system is called the "crown jewel" of the WTO. Just as royalty must prance around to inspire the people, trad...

The Senate Budget Committee unveiled the chairman's mark for its version of the FY 2014 budget earlier this week (See WPI 12 March). The committee adopted...