We've been predicting for about a year that Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) reform will ripen as an issue in 2013. We stand by that. There will be a controve...

De Gucht Sings U.S. Ag Song U.S. agriculture groups are insisting that any Trans-Atlantic trade negotiation must include improved access for their products...

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

Milling Wheat Ukraine's wheat export ban has yet to be made official. The government has been criticized by both the EU and the IMF after last month announ...

Today's USDA crop production estimates and WASDE revisions confirmed what the market has been expecting (and trading) for the past week or longer. The U.S...

General Comments Markets were lower most of the overnight period as traders anticipated that the USDA reports would be at least bearish soybeans and at bes...

The political class is the chattering class. With the election over, most denizens in Washington cannot help but spread -- or even create -- some informed...

General Comments The December corn contract basically has been forming a consolidating-wedge pattern since the middle of October. Normally, the formation 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...

One day after losing their bid in California to require labeling of foods produced with biotech, antagonists are saying they will "out" foods with such con...

China to Buy New Crop Soybeans from Farmers Reports out of China indicate China's National Development and Reform Commission next week will send a proposal...

In yesterday's WPI report, Gary Blumenthal and Dave Juday gave their assessments of the effect of the U.S. election results on various issues related to U...

Weather and Crops No rains fell in Argentina's agricultural area during the past week. In fact, most areas received sunny, hot weather that helped dry the...

Animal Elections The most expensive presidential election in U.S. history is over. How did the animal agriculture industry fare with who/what they backed a...

If there is one thing for which the Congressional Agriculture Committees historically have been known for, it is their bipartisan cooperation. A prime exam...

General Comments After the costliest election ever, President Obama won a second term, the Democrats increased their margin of control in the Senate (thoug...

Russian Grain Markets: 29 October – 2 November 2012 Grain Market Interventions The intervention fund put up 64,935 MT of grains for exchange trading on 6 N...

As Greece readies itself for a crucial vote on new austerity measures, it seems appropriate to look back and see how European sovereign debt problems weigh...

It was a status quo election from the standpoint of political control in Washington, but that does not mean that things stand still or can now move forward...

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...

Years of Missing Beef A Japanese Health Ministry panel approved the age increase from 20 months to 30 months for cattle supplying imported beef. The 20-mon...

General Comments Today is Election Day, and most U.S. markets closed higher. The Dow was up 133 points several minutes before the stock markets close. The...

Soybean Plantings in Argentina Delayed by Flooding Last year Argentina suffered a severe drought that sharply cut its soybean production. This year the pro...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS IMF officials are now in Cairo to negotiate the $4.8 billion loan that has been discussed for several months now. The IMF group...

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 Futures Industry Association (FIA), the principal trade association for the derivatives industry, periodically publishes a variety of information on de...

Today is Election Day in the United States. Up for grabs are the presidency, all House seats and one-third of the Senate. Since we last wrote about the sta...

The Future of Food II Foodies are working hard to return the food system to the good old days, but actual consumer choices make high-technology food the li...

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...

Last week I was in central North Dakota along with 40 or 50 farmers at a meeting sponsored by the Carrington Area Farm Business Management group. Certainly...

China's January-September Wheat Imports Reach Seven-Year High China's January-September wheat imports reached a seven-year high at 3.21 MMT. Though it is t...

General Comments The soy complex started the week on a lower note Sunday with corn and wheat markets steady. Overnight volume was moderate. Soybeans were s...

India Increases Support Prices In a politically motivated decision that is going to cost government of India more, the Cabinet Committee on Economic Affair...

General Comments Markets were soft overnight and this morning with soybeans showing the greatest weakness. Corn, soybean and wheat futures did not close we...

The Australian wheat harvest has all but begun, with deliveries in Western Australia and Queensland. Harvest is not expected to begin in earnest for anothe...

In terms of agriculture, the estate tax is one of the bigger concerns in the potpourri of issues that make up the impending fiscal cliff. If left unaddre...

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

GSP and the 21st Century The European Union has announced a revision to its Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) that grants duty-free access for goods...

Two months certainly do not make a crop year, but for corn and soybeans this past September and October have provided plenty of interesting things to consi...

Soybean production in Brazil has been spilling over into Brazilian pasture land, forcing more confinement feeding of Brazilian beef. This corresponds with...

Weather and Crops More rain fell over a majority of Argentina's agricultural area in the past day. The map below shows the rainfall received during 1-22 Oc...

EPA Meeting with Industry on Fake Biodiesel RINs Officials from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will be meeting with industry representatives ove...

CAP Reform At the insistence of the net contributors to the budget in Brussels, the EU's Council of Ministers issued a recommendation for at least 5.65 bil...

General Comments Yesterday's price rally carried into the overnight session and then into the day session this morning. There may have been some first-of-t...

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...

Market observers certainly have had their fill of excitement during these last few months. That is a marked change from Friday, 29 October 1999, when WPI's...

Battle Over Scale Catherine Badgley, a University of Michigan ecologist, says she envisions a U.S. shift from fewer large farms to many small farms -- and...

Russian Grain Markets: 22-26 October 2012 Harvesting Update As of 26 October, Russian farmers have harvested 72.2 MMT of grains and grain legumes: 39.6 M...

General Comments With the NYSE open and East Coast banks and funds back in operation, grain and soy futures markets seemed to spark up not only in terms of...

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...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS The end of Ukrainian wheat exports has been a source of worry in Egypt. Egypt's GASC has several lots of the wheat pending, as...

U.S. Senator Charles Grassley (R-Iowa) says he doesn't believe next week's election will have much impact on the farm bill debate and the legislation's cou...

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 Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last month approved the "advanced" categorization for a new process that creates biodiesel from biogenic waste oi...

General Comments After Superstorm Sandy crimped both trading volume and risk tolerance yesterday, grain and soy markets returned to the real world today. S...

New Canola Plant to Be Built in Oklahoma Traditionally, canola is not a crop that has been grown in Oklahoma. However, producers have been experimenting wi...

About the time Hurricane Sandy roared ashore near Ocean City, New Jersey, meteorologists decided that it had lost its status as a tropical system. Sandy co...

Slowing Urban Sprawl American urban consumers are in a rage over eating local. Somehow the undocumented benefits include slowing the rise of the oceans and...

General Comments Today was a very strange trading day for a number of reasons: The superstorm now blitzing the East Coast has closed most of the governme...

This may be one of the most difficult presidential elections to predict in modern history -- or at least the history of polling. The election is one week a...

Voices Against GM Moratorium A Technical Expert Committee (TEC) appointed by India's Supreme Court has recommended a 10-year moratorium on any field trials...

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...

Meat and Poultry Production Up 5 Percent China's National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) recently announced that the country's pork, beef, mutton and poultry p...

Last Friday we took a peek at the potential U.S. corn outlook for the 2013/14 marketing year and how it might be quite bearish if weather and yields shift...

General Comments Today was one of the quietest and more boring days for anyone watching the markets in a long time. Soybeans were weak all night and throug...

Milling Wheat Ukrainian and Russian wheat are not competitive anymore. Some offers for Ukrainian wheat were still available earlier this week. After the ex...

Farm Policy Scheduled Both U.S. and European leaders are indicating new farm policy will be moving forward under their respective jurisdictions. The Commis...

Old crop corn and soybean market direction will now be determined by demand. We might see small changes to the U.S. crop production estimates in the Novemb...

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

There has been a lot of attention focused on the possibility of Brazilian sugar ethanol entering the United States this year, but a quick read of USDA's Oc...

One of the most contentious parts of the massive and controversial Dodd-Frank financial market reform legislation passed by Congress in 2010 is the so-call...

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...

Beef Feedlots North and South America USDA's latest Cattle on Feed report showed the total number of cattle on feed at 10.89 million head, down 3 percent c...

This week I have been attending a conference in Spain organized by the U.S. Soybean Export Council to discuss issues related to soymeal, sustainability and...

Election Economic Impacts With the U.S. presidential race neck and neck, policy planners have begun mapping out scenarios for fiscal management and trade p...

General Comments Overnight trade in grains and the soy complex was mixed in terms of price action, although trading volume held up well in the face of a de...

Pediatricians or EPA the Fool? The American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP) has caused a stir with its charge that the federal standards for pesticide residues...

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...

Corn started and ended the week of 24-28 October 2011 as the lead grain, and according to WPI analyst David Poe, the rally "seem[ed] to have presented an o...

General Comments The Fed's FOMC closed its regular two-day October meeting without changing any of its policy initiatives or adding any new ones. This incl...

Russian Grain Markets: 15-19 October 2012 Harvesting Update As of 19 October, the Russian farmers harvested 71.8 MMT of grains and grain legumes: 39.5 MM...

Draft Survey Some analysis has appeared regarding a new dispute between the Argentine government and exporters about a draft survey. The Customs Office is...

Ag Productivity On the one hand, agricultural productivity has been terrific. It moves along at a 1.67 percent annual rate, which by one estimate accounts...

General Comments In typical "Turnaround Tuesday" fashion grain and soy prices weakened in overnight trade with yesterday's rally attracting some early prof...

The driving force for soybean demand and prices in the last couple of years has been continued strong soymeal demand, particularly in Asia. The soybean sup...

  NEWS UPDATES EGYPT COMMENTS Egypt's Agriculture Minister has said that the country will be able to grow sufficient wheat for all subsidized bread 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...

Futures markets seem to be taking a schizophrenic view of the supply/demand situation facing U.S. corn and wheat. Traders are well aware that the worst dro...

In Secretary Tom Vilsack's words, USDA is reacting to the "challenge of meeting the Renewable Fuel Standard" and the 36 billion gallons of renewable fuel b...

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...

Creighton University's October 2012 "Mid-American Money Report", which is a survey of bank Presidents and CEO's across 10 central states from Minnesota and...

  China to launch new legislation on green food label China's Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) recently revised the 1993 version of the Measures for the...

ADM is making a move to acquire GrainCorp, Ltd., the major grain handler in eastern Australia. It was reported last week that ADM had increased i...

General Comments Markets were firm to strong in the Sunday evening session, and continued that strength through most of this morning before backing off aro...

India's milk production high, quality low India has been the world leader in milk production in recent years, and will continue to be thanks to the large n...

If President Obama were of the mind to label China a currency manipulator, this week would have been the perfect opportunity. The Treasury Department was t...

Last Monday's crop progress report showed that 71 percent of the U.S. 2013 winter wheat crop has been planted. That is exactly on the five-year average for...

Milling Wheat Ukraine announced a wheat export ban beginning 15 November. Since the start of the campaign, about 3.5 MMT have been exported from Ukraine. W...

General Comments Grain and soy futures markets generally tapered down today to end a choppy up-and-down week with spurts of heavy trading volume interspers...

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's announcement of the sale of the Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBOT) to the CME Group is another reminder of just how much the grain business in...

Traceability for Antibiotics in Feed Energy and Commerce Committee Ranking Member Congressman Henry Waxman this week announced that he will introduce...

USDA Releases Final 2011/12 Export Sales Report for Soymeal and Soyoil USDA today released the final export sales reports for soymeal and soyoil for the 20...

U.S.-EU Contrast on Biofuel The EU announced its new policy is to limit biofuel made from food to 5 percent, end its subsidies by 2020, and mandate a 60 pe...

General Comments Markets started steady to slightly better yesterday afternoon and the momentum higher continued to build throughout today's session. The b...

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...

"Nothing is certain except that nothing is certain." The same can be said about the markets' often unpredictable nature. Bob Kohlmeyer commented on this ca...

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...

Russian Grain Markets: 8-12 October 2012 Harvesting Updates The Russian Ministry of Agriculture on 12 October updated its total grain harvest forecast for...

General Comments The CME Group has agreed to buy the Kansas City Board of Trade (KCBOT) for $126 million, according to news reports today. The KCBOT wheat...

Corn The corn market in Argentina continues to be relatively quiet. Offers for old crop corn are scarce, with sellers asking for 15 October and November sh...

General Comments Grain and soy futures traded higher overnight, and they tried to maintain that momentum today. It worked for a time, but the momentum was...

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...

Scientists Discover Gene Controlling Resistance to Cyst Nematode in Soybeans The cyst nematode is the most costly pest that impacts soybean yields in the U...

Geography and Politics The farm bill may be an issue in some political contests this year (see Dave Juday's piece on 15 October), but it does not define mo...

During the last several weeks, investment/speculative money has been fleeing long positions in commodity markets for agriculture, energy and metals. Lookin...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS In order to control the fuel shortage problems in the country and attack the expensive fuel subsidy programs, the Egyptian gove...

The second presidential debate will be held tonight in New York City, and a group of undecided voters will be posing the questions. It is unlikely that the...

High Expectations for New Corn Price This is the time of the year when the Chinese government's procurement price for new crop corn becomes a hot topic amo...

India's Economic Growth Are India's economic woes over, and could there be an economic turnaround? Experts believe that a turnaround could happen in the ne...

Mitt Romney last week blamed the lack of a completed farm bill out of Congress on the lack of leadership from the White House (see Gary Blumenthal, WPI 9 O...

Price levels for the federal crop insurance programs have been a crucial ingredient in the net farm income levels of farmers, and the crop revenue insuranc...

General Comments There was no letup in the selling pressures across the soy complex when markets opened Sunday evening. The selling in soybeans spread over...

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'...

Yesterday's USDA supply and demand estimates should be considered at least somewhat bullish. U.S. ending supply estimates for corn, wheat and soybeans sugg...

Milling Wheat Wheat prices in the Black Sea remained about unchanged this week. The liquidity is shrinking as the offered volume is decreasing significantl...

Food Fight IV Foodie Michael Pollan wrote in The New York Times that California's Prop 37 requiring labeling of boiotech foods is not about food safety or...

General Comments Markets opened weak yesterday afternoon. That weakness continued to build throughout the night and accelerated at 9:30 a.m. when the open...

The status of E15 has been overwhelmed by the drought and the subsequent requests to waive the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2012/13, but automakers re...

USDA Boosts U.S. Soybean Production and Usage To no one's surprise, USDA today raised its forecast for U.S. soybean yields, production and consumption in 2...

Hunger for Better Facts There were some odd side notes with the International Food Policy Research Institute's (IFPRI) release of its Global Hunger Index a...

Following is an ad hoc summary of some of the important numbers from USDA's October WASDE.In a year of drought and tight supplies, every month's fresh esti...

General Comments Prior to today's October crop estimates and the WASDE, money managers who were actively paring down their long futures positions in the so...

Cattle Feeding Isn't for Sissies Feedlots are facing a challenging year. Thus far in 2012, cattle supplies are about 2.455 times under feedlot capacity 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...

Four years ago, amid a global economic crisis and a presidential race, the markets certainly were not boring to watch. "Every day brings its own set of fac...

Corn Market This week the corn market in Argentina continued to be relatively quiet. A significant volume of export licenses for old crop corn were approve...

The Dairy Security Act provisions in the 2012 Farm Bill continue to be a point of controversy in the industry even though both congressional Agriculture Co...

Rich versus Poor The IMF/World Bank meetings in Tokyo this week are providing some geopolitical and policy drama. China's refusal to send a top level offic...

Russian Grain Markets: 1-5 October 2012 Harvesting Updates Russian Ag Minister Nikolai Fedorov on 9 October changed the 2012 grain harvest forecast in net...

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 When a federal judge threw out CFTC's arduously constructed new regulations setting position limits for commodity futures markets on 28 Se...

Proving that spin and perception are the politician's friend, Mitt Romney told an Iowa farm audience today that the lack of a completed farm bill out of th...

USDA's October WASDE with revised estimates of 2012 U.S. corn and soybean production estimates will be released Thursday (11 October) morning. In this year...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS The effect of Egypt's wheat purchases recently and the amount of power GASC has in world markets has been a widely covered topi...

The Fed's decision to move into round three of quantitative easing (QE3) was a bit of a surprise -- at least it wasn't expected to happen during the Fed's...

Palm Oil Prices Near Bottom? Anyone who has been watching the palm oil market knows palm oil prices have plummeted in recent months. Weighed down by expand...

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 The IMF lowered its already anemic forecasts of world economic growth for this and next year, and by implication, raised its view of the c...

General Comments The U.S. government was on holiday today. There were no USDA reports, including weekly export inspections, weekly crop progress numbers, 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...

Rupee is Stronger Post Reforms The Indian rupee was stronger by almost Rs. 3.17 (5.37 percent) in a 30-day period, down from Rs. 55.35 on 9 September to Rs...

Politicons The petroleum industry gets a politically inspired federal investigation every time gasoline prices rise above consumer comfort levels. This yea...

USDA will release its October crop production updates and WASDE revisions Thursday at 7:30 a.m. CT. There is little question that most -- maybe all -- eyes...

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 old adage that high prices cure high prices is being proved again by the energy sector. U.S. petroleum output has been growing since 2008, based largel...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea wheat market is firmer. The domestic market in Russia has rallied to levels that are above the export parity. This is logical c...

General Comments It was a quiet session overnight with soybeans firmer and corn and wheat slightly weaker. That was the pattern throughout much of the day,...

Agriculture Losing the War Modern agricultural practices will never obtain approval from their philosophical antagonists; the goal is to explain agricultur...

The new era of extreme price volatility coupled with very high prices and equally high crop insurance revenue guarantees have made it tough for the minor o...

Corn Market The Argentine corn FOB market continues to be pretty similar to what was reported last week. Some trading houses are running out of corn export...

General Comments The Turkish attack on a Syrian military installation may be part of the reason for today's increase in gasoline and crude oil prices, but...

No American Rats Dying Unsurprisingly, the European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) opined that the rat study carried out by anti-biotech researcher Gilles-Er...

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...

Canada's Canola Crop Forecast Well Below Analysts' Expectations Statistics Canada today released its estimates for that country's 2012 crops and the foreca...

U.S. Economy for the Birds The U.S. Poultry and Egg Association, National Chicken Council, National Turkey Federation and United Egg Producers have issued...

Russian Grain Markets: 27-30 September 2012 Harvesting Updates As of 28 September, Russia harvested grains and grain legumes on 36 million hectares, or 91...

General Comments China is on holiday and market conditions are similar to when parents are gone or when the boss is out of the office: the market is free t...

The CBOT day session opened one hour late on Tuesday, 2 October 2007 due to technical problems. According to WPI's Bob Kohlmeyer: It was clear that profess...

Farmers Pick Cash Some EU member states are pressing for budget reductions in Brussels, and that could factor into the current effort at reforming the Comm...

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...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS The government of Egypt is making every effort to reduce subsidies on some major food items. As reported a few weeks ago, the g...

The farm bill expired on Sunday, and by Monday the anticipated recriminations were flying. Various statements and tweets from the Democratic leadership tar...

General Comments As Dave Juday noted yesterday, in response to a suit filed against the CFTC by two swaps and financial market trade associations in the U...

Commodities and Elections Financial and commodity indicators correlate with elections, but there is a more important conclusion. Soy Prices Fail to Ration...

Taiwan Crushers Tender for Soybeans Encouraged by the recent sharp drop in soybean futures prices, Taiwan's Breakfast Soybean Procurement Association (BSPA...

Activists Kick Butt The attack on conventional agriculture by activists is getting stranger by the day. Now it is reported that activist investor Carl Icah...

The corn and soybean harvests are going full blast in the United States. Those of us with long -- though not necessarily accurate -- memories can recall fa...

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...

Last Friday's USDA quarterly stocks report found about 40 million bushels more soybeans than expected. That news started the soybean market lower and it wa...

Back in January, the International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) and Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association (SIFMA) filed a lawsu...

Food Grain Production Down, Rainfall Deficit at 7.6 Percent The government of India (GOI) last week released its first 2012/13 crop and grain production es...

Chinese Government Likely to Raise the Purchasing Price for Corn Recently, market discussions suggest that the Chinese government is likely to raise the 20...

Trade Liberalization Wow Doha is dead, long live Doha; and Africa is a continental backwater -- all no more! Largely given up for dead, apparently the true...

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 The start of the new quarter brought buying to financial markets but not to commodity markets. Corn futures were firmer on, as one trader...

The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) today released a report on the Self-Employment Contributions Act (SECA), or unemployment taxes. CBO in its report con...

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

This morning's USDA quarterly stocks numbers threw bullish corn and wheat numbers at the market. The soybean number was slightly bearish. Needless to say,...

Milling Wheat Russian and Ukrainian wheat prices are increasing sharply. It's difficult to find offers for October, and there are no offers at all for Dece...

General Comments A bullish USDA quarterly stocks report following two weeks or so of big time fund liquidation caught corn and wheat markets too short with...

Yes on Biotech Labeling Comedian/commentator Bill Maher's comment on the American people is that "[t]hey're not very bright." The real problem is that ther...

Corn Market By the end of last week after some trades were made, Argentine corn premiums became firmer. This week the FOB market remained the same. Main is...

Fewer and Heavier Cattle Mean Less Feed Last week's Cattle on Feed report showed an 11 percent drop in placements despite industry expectations of placemen...

China Sells More Reserve Soybeans The Chinese government today sold an additional 400,001 MT of soybeans from its reserve stocks. The soybeans were sold to...

General Comments In anticipation of tomorrow's Grain Stocks report, market participants may have reversed the old adage, "buy the rumor, sell the fact," in...

Broad Pain from Tomatoes The Commerce Department has preliminarily suspended a tomato antidumping agreement with Mexico that was negotiated back in 1996. T...

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...

Friday, 28 September 2001 was a "day of getting clobbered" in the markets, according to WPI's Ben Beneke. It is unclear what started it: "the general neutr...

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...

Wrong-Way Trade Policy Trade policy remains a wreck with countries concurrently practicing their own protectionism while complaining vehemently about that...

Russian Grain Markets: 17-21 September 2012 Harvesting and Planting Updates National Grain Producers Union President Pavel Skurihin forecasted that Russia...

General Comments Consumers can be more flexible with gasoline consumption than food consumption, so it does not make a lot of sense that European economic...

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...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS Egypt's GASC said that in recent weeks it has built up the strategic wheat stockpiles to a level that can cover the country's n...

Soymeal Consumption to Rise in North Africa and Middle East Despite Turmoil The revolutions that have taken place in the primarily Muslim countries of the...

President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney recently outlined their stances on agriculture issues for the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF). This is as clo...

General Comments Corn has sold off a dollar and soybeans almost $2 in the past month. The strong basis and slow decline in open interest makes it appear th...

General Comments Note: Last Friday we reported that negotiations in the labor dispute at Pacific Northwest (PNW) ports had been extended for 90 days. That...

Reform Process Continues The Indian government (GOI) is keen to continue the reform process it began back in 1991. While growth was positive in some years,...

Negative Attitude Towards GMOs Increases Among Chinese Consumers Chinese consumers are becoming less tolerant of GMOs, according to a survey conducted by t...

USDA will release its 1 September quarterly stocks report this Friday. These quarterly stocks reports have been very tricky to interpret recently, especial...

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...

Things are looking up for the Brazilian sugarcane sector despite world sugar prices stuck at near-two-year lows of 19 cents per pound (U.S. sugar prices ar...

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

House Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) on Thursday officially commented on the fate of the farm bill. "We will deal with the farm bill after the election," he...

Dennis Gartman (of The Gartman Report) reportedly told an audience to short John Deere stock because U.S. farmers won't have any money to buy farm equipmen...

General Comments It was another very erratic overnight session with wide price swings, especially in the soy complex. November soybeans traded as much as 1...

Pigs of the Future: Impact on Feed The high feed costs as a result of the drought have led to a reduction -- rather than what was expected to be an expansi...

Drought Cuts Australian Canola Crop Forecast The Australian Oilseeds Federation (AOF) this week reduced its forecast for that country's upcoming canola har...

With harvest only months away, Australian wheat production remains on a familiar knife-edge -- the scope for wheat production remains as wide as ever (20-2...

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...

General Comments The December 2012 corn contract may be forming a double bottom at $7.39. If this contract closes out the week strong tomorrow, then a temp...

Reason for RFS Waiver Currently attention is being focused on the near-term impact of the current short crop and whether the Environmental Protection Agenc...

General Comments Yesterday it was noted that there were buyers waiting at lower prices for the market to come their way. Increasing numbers of those prospe...

Corn Market After the release of new corn export licenses, the government began authorizing specific requests from each trading house. More than 0.8 MMT we...

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 "winds of change" swept through the pits in Chicago on Wednesday morning, 15 September 1999. According to WPI's Gregg Doud: In reality, there was very...

Biotech Hurdles France: France initially announced that it planned to keep its "moratorium" on the planting of biotech crops. The difference is that "morat...

Russian Grain Markets: 10-14 September 2012 Harvesting Updates The Russian Grain Union forecasts the grain crop in that country at 72 MMT. The crop current...

The White House released its sequester report late last week, outlining the potential cuts to various government programs. The following is a summary of sc...

General Comments Brazilian farmers were allowed to start planting soybeans as of this past weekend. From 15 June until 15 September no soybeans were suppos...

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...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS Egypt's GASC was back in the wheat market, booking another 235,000 MT of wheat as of last Thursday. This included 120,000 MT of...

No Cooperation at Forum Apparently, USDA's September WASDE report was not sufficiently comforting on food prices. France has sent notice of a "Rapid Respon...

The possibility of aflatoxin in harvested corn is a frightening prospect to all market participants. Aflatoxin is a carcinogen produced by certain mold fun...

EPA Sets Biodiesel Blend Mandate at 1.28 Billion Gallons The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) last Friday announced that it will set the biodiese...

Irrigation Infrastructure and New Technology Can Help Agriculture India has approximately 140 million hectares of net cultivated area (the gross area of 19...

China Continues to Spend on Farmland Improvement China's Ministry of Finance (MOF) recently announced that the government will invest $5.9 billion this yea...

General Comments Grain and oilseed markets started lower Sunday evening. The selling snowballed as the night wore on with another major leg down happening...

The House last week passed a continuing resolution (CR) to fund the federal government through 2013. And as we predicted on 10 September, the CR did not co...

India's Modest Reform A group of Indian agribusiness representatives is in Washington to explain India's export potential and pitch for foreign direct inve...

You would think that when supplies of corn and soybeans are headed to their tightest levels ever you would see strong basis levels. The opposite is true 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...

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

Milling Wheat The milling wheat market in the Black Sea is much firmer. The catalyst for the rally was the seventh GASC tender in six weeks. Russian wheat...

The September USDA reports again verified just how severely U.S. corn and soybean production was impacted by the drought of 2012. We can all still argue ab...

Sequester Issues Earlier this summer the federal agencies appeared to be oblivious as to the implications of the fiscal cliff scheduled for 2013. Indeed, t...

General Comments Yesterday's Federal Reserve announcement that it will inject $40 billion per month into the economy buoyed U.S. and world financial market...

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...

Biotech Shifts The assault on agricultural biotechnology has increased in the United States and Prop 37 (mandatory labeling) in California is a major threa...

High Winds Reduce Canada's Canola Production The amount of canola Canada harvests this year will be reduced as a result of high winds that occurred this we...

WASDE As could be expected, yesterday's WASDE showed a decrease in meat and poultry production based on an increase in beef driven by drought liquidation,...

General Comments Grain and soy futures traded in mixed fashion overnight. Corn, soybeans and wheat prices were on both sides in fairly active trade. Wheat...

Floods During the past week, excessive precipitation fell over central Buenos Aires, flooding a third of the area. In some cases, this rainfall duplicated...

When we first became involved in trading grain and soybeans, one of the most impressive features of grain trade practices for us was the casual, off-handed...

General Comments Basically, CME grain and soy futures trade today was a tale of two markets. USDA's modest cuts in 2012 production prospects and a 2012/13...

On Thursday, 12 September 2002, USDA's September WASDE "gave the market what it had anticipated," and as a result, "overbought signal and profit-taking wer...

Green Policies Take Beating The economic doldrums on both sides of the Atlantic, coupled with other concerns, are forcing environmental goals to take a bac...

Today's WASDE report was considered bearish for corn because the national average corn yield of 122.8 bushels per acre was larger than the average analyst...

Russian Grain Markets: 3-7 September 2012 Harvesting Updates The Russian Ministry of Agriculture announced that as of 10 September, farmers harvested grain...

USDA's eagerly awaited September WASDE was greeted happily by corn market bears and soybean market bulls. USDA reduced the 2012/13 average corn yield from...

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...

While more than 40 farm and commodity groups in the Farm Bill Now coalition rally for congressional action on a farm bill, the American Enterprise Institut...

EU Commission Proposes to Scale Back Use of Food Crops for Biofuel The EU Commission has drafted new rules that would substantially scale back the use of f...

General Comments In the 14 trading days since 21 August, the CME December corn contract has dropped about 63 cents. Price action has been choppy and irregu...

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...

In a "normal" year the September WASDE yield and crop estimates are usually just bridges between the August WASDE, when the estimates reflect the first act...

Trans-Atlantic Analytical Differences EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos indicates he is prepared to discuss the role of biofuels given concerns by...

News Updates EGYPT COMMENTS The Egyptian government stated that all details required for its IMF loan should be in place in about two months, and that it e...

Indian Monsoon May Not Be Enough Despite the fact that the monsoon rain deficit is declining due to its a late resurgence (it is now at 9 percent), it may...

General Comments Markets were mixed to start the Sunday evening session and traded both sides of unchanged throughout the night. Corn, wheat and soybeans w...

USDA will update its crop production and ending supply estimates Wednesday morning. Obviously, these are very important numbers because it is very likely t...

Ethanol's Lagging Support After correctly perceiving the drought drying up its political support in Washington, the ethanol industry is mounting a tour de...

Chinese Consumers Turn Toward Imported Food A recent survey conducted by an international market research firm shows that more Chinese consumers have turne...

Back in 1979 President Jimmy Carter famously described the malaise that he perceived gripping the nation. While Carter never actually used the term "malais...

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'...

General Comments Markets were weak overnight with soybeans showing the greatest weakness. Wheat was firm and eventually traded sharply higher. Corn traded...

Milling Wheat Russian wheat continues to be the cheapest for September shipment. November shipment is offered at a high premium against September since the...

Stats Canada released its 31 July stocks report this morning and it continued to follow the trend of smaller-than-expected numbers (see table below).It is...

One factor the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) will rely upon for its analysis of the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) on corn prices is the price...

Laggard Trade Policy Free trade advocates have long complained about the Obama Administration's laggard initiative on such negotiations. However, the Romne...

Shameless Category Protectionism knows no bounds as the Made in the USA Foundation announces it has filed a lawsuit against the WTO for determining that th...

General Comments History seldom repeats itself precisely, but human nature is fairly consistent. Prices are reflections of human behavior under similar cir...

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...

Indian Soymeal Sales Plummet in August India's soymeal exports last month totaled only 10,005 MT, which was 95 percent lower than exports of 165,510 MT in...

Grain and soy markets are easing their way toward next Wednesday's September WASDE from USDA, and all eyes will be on the USDA NASS updated yield and produ...

Long-Term Demand Destruction in Feed Sector While corn and soybean futures prices jumped 41 percent and 33 percent, respectively, since the start of June,...

General Comments Grain and soy prices closed weaker in another low volume day session following the trend established earlier in overnight trade. More liqu...

Russian Grain Markets: 22-28 August 2012 GRAINS AND PRODUCTS Harvesting Updates According to the Russian Ag Ministry's Department of Crop Production, as of...

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...

Ethanol trade association Growth Energy in a letter to Arkansas Governor Mike Beebe wrote that the end result of waiver to the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS...

Ethanol After Argentina's large investment in biodiesel plants during the last few years, the next step will be developing corn crushing plants to produce...

China Secures Agricultural Investments Overseas China Oil and Foodstuffs Co., (COFCO), the nation's largest food manufacturer, and New Hope Group, China's...

On Tuesday, 7 September 1999, many traders were hoping to see bullish markets. Bob Kohlmeyer wrote: They are sick of the low price, low volatility, low vol...

It has been a long, hot (and dry) summer for U.S. soybean growers. It also has been an unusually hot summer for U.S. soybean exporters. Brazilian and Argen...

General Comments Grain and soy futures staged a strong price rally overnight as prospects for tight supplies again outweighed anything the bears had to off...

News Updates AFRICA COMMENTS The Kenyan government has decided to import maize into government-held strategic stocks to ensure that the supply in the count...

India Quarterly GDP Growth Lowest in 10 Years During the first quarter of FY 2013 (April-June), India's GDP grew 5.5 percent over the corresponding quarter...

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...

Indian Soy Processors Too Optimistic About Soymeal Exports Reports indicate India has begun its 2012/13 soymeal export sales program with sales of about 25...

Democrats Evolve The holding of power necessitates responsibility. This year's Democratic Party platform commits to "free and fair trade" and boasts that t...

The debate over just how small the U.S. corn and soybean crops are, along with how much rationing has been accomplished, will rage on for another couple of...

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 Federal Reserve recently released its minutes on the 31 July – 1 August Federal Open Market Committee (FMOC) meeting, giving insight into the central b...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea milling wheat market remained about unchanged. This morning the Russian government decided not to restrict exports for the time...

General Comments Grain and the soy complex faced three important or potentially important influences today. First, there was the Russian Food Security Coun...

General Comments There was no follow-through buying when the markets re-opened late yesterday afternoon following the very strong performance of corn, whea...

RFS Waiver on the Clock Two more states, Texas and Virginia, have petitioned the Environmental Protection Agency to waive the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)...

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...

Southeast Asian Ag Sector Surprisingly Optimistic As I mentioned yesterday, this week I am participating in the 9th Annual Southeast Asia Agricultural Coop...

Non-Biotech Subsidies -- Taxpayers Although there is no final decision as yet, it looks as though it will be the taxpayer on the hook to compensate growers...

The hue and cry over the ethanol use mandate in the U.S. Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) and the possibility that the Russian government might intervene in t...

Russian Grain Markets: 22-28 August 2012 GRAINS AND PRODUCTS Harvesting Updates According to the Russian Ag Ministry's Department of Crop Production, Russi...

General Comments It has been rare for wheat to be the futures market leader recently, but that is exactly what happened today. After five straight losing d...

Demand Rationing of Soy Not Apparent in Southeast Asia This week I am attending and speaking at the 9th Southeast Asia Agricultural Cooperators Conference...

Corn There were several inquiries for Argentine corn for October, November and December shipment. As a result, some trades were made at -55 CZ for November...

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...

Eggs Rule Mexico has announced a substantial increase in the duty free egg import quota from the U.S. An avian influenza outbreak has shortened domestic su...

News Updates There was not too much grain trade activity in North Africa and the Middle East in the past week due to the Eid holidays following Ramadan.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...

Biotech Facts versus Organic Kills The battle over Proposition 37 in California that would require labeling of food products produced using biotechnology i...

Grain and soybean futures markets seem to have hit something of a vacuum. They have lost direction, at least temporarily, and they have become rather dull...

General Comments Overnight trading was muted with prices mostly mixed with trade on both sides of the previous closes. Volumes were low, and a lack of inte...

The Renewable Fuels Association (RFA) recently argued (see WPI 23 August) that one reason it would be a bad idea to waive the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS)...

General Comments Markets started the week very firm Sunday evening, with November soybeans again setting new all-time price highs. Corn and wheat were also...

The Republican Convention is getting underway in Tampa, and while party platforms are largely ignored documents after the meeting is over, they make for go...

Wheat Shortage Despite Huge Procurement India's wheat production for 2011/12, according to the July update from the government of India's (GOI) Ministry of...

The next major USDA reports are scheduled to be released on Wednesday, 12 September. These will include new crop production estimates and the revised month...

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...

Back in October 2010, the Federal Reserve undertook Operation Twist, whereby it sold $400 million in short-term bonds (maturities of three years or less) i...

Republican presidential Mitt Romney yesterday released a 21-page "comprehensive" energy policy plan to "achieve North American energy independence by 2020...

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 Wheat, corn and soybean marketers were all very firm in the evening session and held most of those gains until prices started to falter ar...

The most important question for these markets over the next six to 12 months will be how the massive job of rationing corn and soybean demand gets accompli...

Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney released his proposed U.S. energy policy this week and it is no different than President Obama's in that both...

Milling Wheat Russian and Ukrainian wheat remain the cheapest origins by far. It may sound illogical that the Russian wheat is so cheap after all the bulli...

Glass Half-Full Argentina Yesterday we speculated about a positive that could come out of Argentina's challenge to U.S. barriers to imports of its lemons a...

Back when we first got involved in the grain business and in grain merchandizing, grain export activity was not very important to futures markets. Or perha...

General Comments Markets took another breather today. After early gains could not be sustained, prices began to slide lower. The change in direction create...

Corn Argentine corn FOB market premiums are weak and there is a lack of demand. Spot shipments (August and September) are offered at 5-10 cents/bushel lowe...

Argentina Still Subsidizes Biodiesel Exports Contrary to earlier reports, Argentina has not completely eliminated its export incentives for biodiesel. Whil...

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...

Drought Effect: Freezer Busting Inventories Because of the drought, drought-fueled corn and feed prices, and lost pasture, more beef and pork is being push...

Ineffective Aid U.S. Agency for International Development official Nancy Lindborg says the Sahel region of Africa is in the midst of long-term drought and...

General Comments Minutes of the Federal Reserve Bank's August Federal Open Market Committee (FMOC) meeting were released today, and they show a growing til...

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: 15-21 August 2012 GRAINS AND PRODUCTS Harvesting and Planting Updates According to Petr Chekmarev, director of the Russian Ag Minist...

Commodity Analytics shows the most recent data for grain export sales and shipments along with historic patterns. Current deviations from historic norms po...

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 Ramadan has finished and all Muslim countries are currently celebrating Eid-Al-Fitr — the festival of breaking the fast. Most off...

Corn prices are creeping back up again, nearing the $8.43 record price set earlier this month. That's being viewed as a signal that not enough demand has b...

Crop Insurance Spike U.S. farmers have been steadily increasing the land they have under crop insurance coverage, and based on research published in the Jo...

With all that is going on in U.S. and world agriculture, we feel out of touch after having been away for just a few days. Good or bad, we are in a period o...

General Comments With a barrage of tweets from participants on Pro Farmer's Midwest crop tour commenting on how bad crops look, futures prices had nowhere...

Russia at U.S. Political Conventions Russia's trade regime officially changes over to the WTO's better standards on Wednesday, but U.S. industry cannot ben...

The Environmental Protection Administration (EPA) has been trying to remove the word "navigable" from the language of the Clean Water Act (CWA) as it refer...

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...

India's Economic Growth: Drastic Need for Reforms The Prime Minister's Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) last week pegged India's GDP forecast at 6.7 perce...

The corn and soybean crops in the U.S. are bordering on disastrous this year because of the major drought that affected nearly every part of the Corn Belt...

General Comments Markets were just slightly higher to start Sunday evening but gradually built on that early firmness and were strong by the time the sun r...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea milling wheat market is slightly weaker in sympathy with Chicago and Matif due to the slow demand. Despite the bullish stories...

The USDA blog has much of its space dedicated to food inflation and the drought. One entry, dated 10 August, is USDA's response to the current question on...

The U.S. drought has pushed corn and soybean prices to new all-time highs following the drought-reduced production in Brazil and Argentina. Problems in Rus...

General Comments Markets were quietly strong much of today, and funds were noted as light buyers. There was no special or fresh news today. Financial marke...

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 United States is agreeing with France and current G-20 leader Mexico to possibly hold the first meeting of the rapid response forum created as a result...

General Comments Markets were mixed in the night session with soybeans trading as much as 13-15 cents lower at one point. The tenor of the markets changed...

Politics of Ethanol The Des Moines Register chides President Obama for visiting Iowa and highlighting his differences with Republican rival Mitt Romney ove...

Argentina Reportedly Pressuring Grain Exporters to Sell Stocks I wrote on Tuesday that the Argentine government's dire need for tax revenue and foreign exc...

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...

RFS Waiver on the Clock, or Will Be Soon Southern Governors Mike Beebe (D-Arkansas) and Beverly Purdue (D-North Carolina) this week have joined Maryland an...

We might have to reduce corn acres in the U.S. in 2013 because of a potential planting seed shortage. Seed was very tight in 2012 because of the big incr...

General Comments Demand rationing markets can be particularly difficult to trade. Greater emphasis needs to be placed on factors such as basis because the...

It seems ironic that established government policy can have the opposite effect of its stated objectives. For example, the vast majority of congressional r...

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...

Corn Argentine corn basis levels are weaker this week, especially for spot shipments (August and September) where seller's ideas are in the -65 CZ to -70 C...

Russian Grain Markets: 7-14 August, 2012 GRAINS AND PRODUCTS Harvest As of 14 August, grains and leguminous crops have been harvested on 21,062,800 hectare...

Shorting the Market The Thai Ministry of Commerce is reportedly assembling its ASEAN counterparts to negotiate the creation of a trading cartel in rice. Ap...

The August WASDE confirmed -- if there was any doubt -- that drought-reduced production of U.S. soybeans and corn in 2012 absolutely will require that dome...

Argentina Eliminates All Export Incentives for Biodiesel Last Friday the Argentine government in a surprise move acted to immediately raise the export tax...

News Updates EGYPT UPDATE At long last Egypt was back in the wheat market, validating the forecast of several experts. Egypt's GASC bought 120,000 MT of Ru...

General Comments Corn and soy markets tried hard to make it a "Turnaround Tuesday." Prices firmed slightly in overnight trade, and this continued into the...

The American Coalition for Ethanol (ACE) last Friday held its convention in Omaha, Nebraska. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack spoke to ACE members shortly...

All the Wrong Hunger Targets Owen Barder with the Center for Global Development pegs it when he points to the errors in policymakers' approaches to global...

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...

Parliamentary Panel Junks GM Crops, Asks For Complete Ban Coinciding with the 10th anniversary of Bt cotton's introduction in India is the release of a par...

This weekend, presumptive Republican Presidential nominee Mitt Romney chose Representative Paul Ryan (R-Wisconsin) to be his vice presidential running mate...

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 long awaited August WASDE has come and gone. Even though USDA's surveys confirmed huge yield and production losses for corn and soybeans that exceeded...

General Comments Despite the tightest potential supply/demand situation facing U.S. grains and soybeans in many, many years, grain and soy markets found ve...

Sugar Undermines TPP Former U.S. agricultural trade negotiator Jim Grueff says U.S. aggies are already ambivalent about a Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) a...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea milling wheat market remains quiet due to slow demand from the major destinations. The Russian government has decided not to in...

Somewhere in the White House and the USDA cage, people realized that USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack's invitation to speak to the American Coalition for Ethanol...

General Comments Corn got all dressed up today and had nowhere to go. The WASDE report was bullish in comparison to the average analysts' expectations. Pri...

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

Bulls looking for affirmation in today's WASDE report were not disappointed. USDA slashed its corn and soybean production estimates. While the market alrea...

Fairly Good Exports Sales Last Week Today's USDA export sales report indicated U.S. exporters had fairly good sales last week. The report showed 105,200 MT...

General Comments The "official" beginning of the global financial crisis occurred five years ago today in 2007 when the ECB was forced to pump 95 billion e...

It is certain that the most pervasive common thread throughout USDA's August WASDE will be that world supplies of wheat, coarse grains and oilseeds are shr...

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 Waiver Watch To start the clock for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) to consider an RFS waiver, such a request would have to come from...

The law of unintended consequences endlessly reveals itself in public policymaking, particularly in areas where it is most market distorting. Mandating the...

General Comments It seems fitting as we await USDA's yield and production estimates for 2012's drought-stricken corn and soybean crops that the National We...

Corn Argentine corn basis levels are now weaker than they were in our last report, especially those for August and September shipments, where there is big...

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: 1-6 August 2012 GRAINS AND PRODUCTS Harvest As of 3 August, Russia harvested 1.5 MMT less grain and leguminous crops than it did at...

Farm Bill Prospects House Republican leaders balked at bringing the farm bill to the floor before the August recess, but at least three subsequent developm...

Brazil to Sharply Increase Biotech Plantings The Brazilian consulting group Celeres is predicting that Brazilian farmers will use biotech varieties to plan...

By now nearly everyone involved in agriculture or in activities even remotely connected with agriculture is aware that USDA will release a crop report (the...

Far, far away from scorched corn fields in the Midwest, removed from Chicago, the financial center of commodity-based industries, beyond the horizon from W...

Drought Implications The drought has brought with it a variety of explanations and proposed solutions. The Great Drought of 2012 A drought is loosely defin...

With drought afflicting crops elsewhere, many are assessing crop conditions in the Black Sea Region, and particularly in Russia. Rumor has it that, like tw...

News Updates EGYPT UPDATE The new government in Egypt has issued a formal invitation to the IMF to resume talks on the $3.2 billion loan. The finance minis...

Soft Drink Taxes Need Study New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg stirred a wide array of opinions when he suggested limiting soft drink sales to 12 ounces...

General Comments We so often cite the trade's anticipation of certain reports from USDA that it has probably become a cliche. However, it would be hard 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...

While the war wages over the decision to waive the ethanol Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS), biodiesel recently has enjoyed three big wins.The Senate Appropri...

Optics or Impact If the perceived seriousness of the U.S. drought is reflected in this Friday's USDA WASDE report, pressure will increase on policymakers t...

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...

USDA will release its August production estimate and supply/demand (WASDE) numbers this Friday, 10 August. This might be one of the most important producti...

General Comments For the first time this growing season, the trade came back to work Sunday evening and noticed that weekend rain across the Corn Belt was...

Sugar Prices Rally, Exports to Take a Hit The government finally has declared drought in at least four states: Karnataka, Haryana, Rajasthan and Maharashtr...

General Comments Markets were quiet overnight but started to pick up steam this morning when world financial markets rallied sharply higher. The rally in f...

SEA Case Study Two Southeast Asian neighbors are going to provide yet another example of which economic model works better: market capitalism or protection...

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 Canadian Wheat Board (CWB) ceased to exist as a monopoly single-desk seller this week. It was the last of the single-desk government-sponsored sellers...

With all the hubbub over record crop prices and food inflation, we almost forgot to check in on the Federal Reserve's Wednesday meeting where the Federal O...

Indian Soymeal Imports Seem Likely As I wrote on Tuesday, the Indian government is very concerned about the high price of domestic soymeal and the impact i...

The scorching heat of June and July, along with the scarcity of meaningful rains, has caused a drought over more than half of the 48 contiguous states. Unf...

PNTR: Congressional Democrats still refuse to schedule or vote for permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) for Russia, and Republicans refuse to vote for i...

Disingenuous and Absurd Don't look for a cordial settlement when it comes to the issue of granting a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) waiver, as requested las...

General Comments For the second time in two days, markets were disappointed by the lack of specific actions by central banks to combat spreading economic 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...

The War Within It is no longer food versus fuel but food versus food in the debate over continuation of the ethanol mandate amidst the drought. Senator Cha...

Corn The old crop corn market did not suffer any big changes during the last week. There were a couple of sellers still willing to see demand out of Uprive...

Russian Grain Market: 25-31 July 2012 GRAINS AND PRODUCTS The market trends last week were the same as the week before, with prices continuing to grow but...

General Comments Yesterday it was noted that a pronounced level of profit-taking could become evident in futures contracts for the next week. Such activity...

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 The recent decline in trade volume for the the December 2012 corn contract is probably indicative of traders' waning interest in expanding...

Controversy today heightened over the House Republican leadership's decision to move the farm bill process via a one-year extension of the farm bill. Many...

News Updates EGYPT UPDATE The Egyptian government announced that the final amount of its wheat purchases from the local market is at 3.8 MMT, up slightly f...

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...

While USDA will have the more definitive word on this year's U.S. corn crop with its 10 August WASDE, estimates from private analysts are shrinking the cro...

India Considering 10 Percent Export Tax on Soymeal The Indian Ministry of Agriculture has proposed imposing a 10 percent export tax on soymeal for at least...

General Comments Markets opened much stronger than expected Sunday afternoon and continued to maintain that strength through the night and into today. Corn...

Drought Is Inevitable, Overall Rainfall Deficiency Remains at 22 Percent "Drought is inevitable, and the situation in August may not improve," said a farme...

Ethanol Politics The U.S. drought is putting the heat on both crops and the biofuels mandate. Livestock groups asked the Environmental Protection Agency (E...

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...

Tomorrow the House Rules Committee will meet to consider a rule for a one-year extension of the 2008 Farm Bill that "with certain modifications and excepti...

A week or so ago we wrote about how farmers will not suffer significant financial losses because of the drought. In fact, it is extremely likely that net f...

Game of Chicken over Russia Republicans and Democrats are playing a game of chicken over passage of permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) for Russia. U.S...

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

There is a lot of discussion about the possibility of a Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) waiver this summer should, say, the August WASDE, come out with a sig...

Back on 31 May WPI updated its world wheat production table and talked about how world wheat supplies were tightening. We wrote that there were still some...

General Comments Markets started very tentative again yesterday afternoon following another day of sharp losses in the soy complex. The selling dried up qu...

Milling Wheat The market in the Black Sea is quiet since import demand in the major destinations is very slow. Black Sea wheat remains nominally the cheape...

Meatless USDA Says Livestock "Wastes Resources" As if having a secretary who seemlingly plans to jawbone the markets into believing that the July WASDE sti...

Extremism Deserves the Law Slander: The Union of Concerned Scientists (UCS) is making a frontal attack on Monsanto by running billboards in Washington that...

Soybean Export Sales Higher Than Expectations Today's USDA export sales report showed U.S. exporters sold more soybeans and soymeal in the week ending 19 J...

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 Traders apparently were impressed today by the big green blobs that were shown by weather radar. The green blobs indicate where precipitat...

The destructive U.S. drought of 2012 grabs all of the headlines, but it is not the only drought being inflicted on an important grain producing region of t...

Russian Grain Market: 17-24 July 2012 GRAINS AND PRODUCTS Weather Conditions Because of the lasting drought, a state of emergency has been introduced in th...

General Comments Grain and soy prices began a rebound in overnight trade after the very sharp price break with which markets began the week. The rebound co...

Corn Because of bad weather conditions in the United States and their subsequent effect on corn crop conditions, CBOT continued its rally. The CU12/CZ12 sp...

Farm Bill Intrigue The Senate has had its say on a 2012 Farm Bill, but on the House side negotiations are hot and heavy over whether it can even pass a sim...

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...

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...

One of the issues looming over the congressional schedule, budget and the presidential election is the expiration of the Bush tax cuts. These taxes are set...

It is late July and here we are again in the U.S. crop forecasting season. During the next few weeks we will hear numerous predictions of the size of the c...

News Updates As crops in many countries -- from the U.S. through Southern and Eastern Europe -- have been affected by poor growing weather, grain prices ha...

U.S. Soybean Crop Condition Continues to Deteriorate Yesterday's USDA crop condition report indicated the overall condition of the U.S. soybean crop contin...

Insensitive Ethanol Rhetoric While it is still possible that this year's U.S. corn crop will be sufficient to satisfy all users, there is a growing list of...

General Comments It was more of the same -- "down and dirty" grain and soy markets. Yesterday's steep declines set up bearish technical signals that no dou...

The Grain Complex: Situation Grim But Under Control Though there are many who would want the government of India (GOI) to ban exports of grains and oil mea...

General Comments Grain and oilseed markets were supposed to open higher Sunday on another very hot and very dry weekend across the U.S. Corn Belt, but that...

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...

Japan Trade Deals Like U.S. agriculture, EU agriculture is hopeful for a trade deal with Japan. EU officials anticipate that a free trade agreement (FTA) w...

The hard red spring wheat tour is scheduled across the Northern Plains this week. The only problem is that the spring wheat harvest started last week and t...

House Majority Leader Eric Cantor (R-Virginia) released the House floor schedule on Friday, 20 July. The farm bill was nowhere to be found. This means that...

General Comments The weather market today intensified again with no rain and very hot temperatures in store for most of the central and western Corn Belt f...

Markets are trying to take a breather from the super rally. We are also hearing another round of "bear" talk, most of which is garbage. Here are some of th...

Ag commodity markets obviously are on a bull tear that is driving food inflation, but that high level of agri-food inflation may be masking some of the inf...

Milling Wheat The Black Sea milling wheat market was sharply higher for the sixth consecutive week. The offers in the FOB market are difficult to find, but...

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

Drought, Ethanol and Economy Respondents to WPI's online survey leaned a bit pessimistic on the economy (see graph below). Meanwhile, the drought may not p...

Rainfall 26 Percent Below Normal in India's Key Soybean Area Information released today by the India Meteorological Department indicated that the cumulativ...

No Ethanol RFS Waiver There have been rumors that an ethanol waiver is in the works because of the drought situation and skyrocketing corn prices. We previ...

General Comments It has seemed inevitable since early July, but today it happened. CME September corn set a new record high for corn futures of $8.1675. Au...

Corn The week started out with a lot of demand for Argentine corn at -40 CU for August and September shipments, but only a few sellers were willing to push...

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...

Pre-Emptive Ethanol Action Scuttlebutt is that at least part of the ethanol industry may decide to request a temporary waiver or a temporary lowering of th...

This has been a tough nine-month stretch for derivative industry regulators. In just about the time they had dealt with the fallout from one major scandal,...

General Comments It has begun to feel as though we have been trapped in a drought-driven market since forever. Of course, that is not true. However, it is...

Trade Amendment Free-for-All The U.S. Senate Finance Committee markup of trade bills today reflects a lot of pent-up political anxiety, much of it misdirec...

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: 11-16 July 2012 GRAINS AND PRODUCTS Harvest Update On 16 July the Russian Ministry of Agriculture lowered its harvest forecast to a...

News Updates On the new business side of things, there is little or nothing to report this week as buyers are staying out of the market in the hopes that p...

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...

Soybean Condition Declines, But Not as Much as Corn Yesterday's USDA report on the conditions of U.S. soybeans and corn indicated the condition of soybeans...

Last Friday (see WPI 13 July) we wrote that it is up to the House Republican leadership to devise a strategy to deal with scheduling the farm bill. Here's...

General Comments We suppose today's market was the drought version of "Turnaround Tuesday." Instead of running 20-30-40 cents higher like Monday's market d...

Trans-Atlantic Differences In considering a Trans-Atlantic free trade agreement (FTA), one has to assess the impact of the divergent views on many issues b...

We apologize for raising the subject of the U.S. drought again, but these days what else is there to discuss? Simply put, the severe and ongoing drought ac...

The drought across the U.S. Corn Belt is getting worse, not better. Weekend rains were far more scattered than expected and the 10- to 14-day outlook looks...

General Comments Markets opened much stronger than expected Sunday afternoon. The following statement from a private weather forecaster accurately sums up...

There are a lot of policies and political factors weighing in on the 2012 Farm Bill. These include spending levels for the nutrition programs, the structur...

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...

Monsoon Continues to Lag; Contingency Plan Needed After the spurt of rain in the past week (5-11 July 2012) the monsoon was 1 percent above normal, but the...

General Comments Markets of every sort were stronger today with financials posting big gains on somewhat better-than-expected news from China and strong U...

By now, there can't be anyone involved in agriculture who is not aware that the crop production situation in the U.S. has undergone a quick and extreme tur...

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

Here is a rundown of the amendments adopted by the House Agriculture Committee during its markup on Wednesday.As indicated by the number of voice votes, no...

Milling Wheat The milling wheat market in the Black Sea is extremely firm with very limited volume offered in the export market. Russian wheat nominally re...

Farm Bill Livestock Amendments A few key and non-key livestock related amendments were adopted yesterday in the House Agriculture Committee's farm bill mar...

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...

Most of the attention yesterday by the trade press about USDA's July supply and demand report focused on corn. The 20-bushel reduction in USDA's yield esti...

Winning without Trying U.S. aggies are astonished and pleased while the owners of a handful of worn out U.S.-flagged ships are baffled and angry over the t...

General Comments In overnight trade and again during the day session, it was a battle between technical bears and weather-driven bulls. Although technical...

To badly paraphrase Shakespeare, these are the days that try men's nerves and wallets. We refer to the nerves and wallets of everyone throughout the agricu...

Russian Grain Markets: 3-10 July 2012 Grains and Products As of 9 July 2012, Russia produced 8.3 MMT of grains with an average yield of 2.59 MT/ha. Accordi...

The bullish tone of USDA's July WASDE surprised many observers. USDA lowered its projected corn and soybean yields and production more aggressively than ex...

Policy Impacts of Drought Today's WASDE report from USDA, with its sharp cut in corn yields, is having several important tangential policy impacts: Ethan...

Corn South American corn premiums continue to drop, staying at -25/-30 CU for August/September. Some trades were reported at those levels, while several in...

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...