CBOT March 2023 soft red winter wheat with 20-day moving average (green line), MGEX March 2023 hard red spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. March 2023 hard red winter wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Futures firm ahead of USDA crop data

Wheat up on technicals, short covering; corn mixed, soybeans firm on Argentine drought concerns

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures firmed on Wednesday as a drop to 15-month lows in the previous session sparked technical buying and short covering, and as traders took positions ahead of key U.S. government crop reports, traders said. Corn was mixed and soybeans edged higher, underpinned by concerns about weather-reduced crops in South […] Read more

ICE March 2023 canola with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Sideways canola market watching macros

USDA report may offer nearby direction

MarketsFarm — ICE Futures canola contracts remain stuck in a sideways trading range to start the New Year, with bearish outside forces countered by relatively supportive fundamentals. From a chart standpoint, March canola is stuck in a sideways range between $800 and $900, with little to suggest a break one way or the other for […] Read more


File photo of the facade of the U.S. Department of Agriculture building in Washington, D.C. (Camrocker/iStock/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: USDA ‘data dump’ due next week

'Minor changes' expected for corn, soy

MarketsFarm — A flurry of reports is coming from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) on Jan. 12, including its monthly supply and demand estimates, quarterly grains stocks report and winter wheat planting report, among others. Futures International analyst Terry Reilly said the multitude of the reports coming out that Thursday will essentially be a […] Read more

File photo of winter wheat plants in snow. (Volodymyr Shtun/iStock/Getty Images)

CBOT weekly outlook: U.S. winter wheat to feel the cold

Crop off to 'a really bad start'

MarketsFarm — With frigid weather coming out of the Arctic, across the Canadian Prairies and into the U.S., there has been an upswing in wheat prices at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Prior to Christmas Day, temperatures are expected to fall as cold as -40 C in the northern Plains to below freezing in […] Read more


File photo of the Rainbow Bridge across the Niagara River between Ontario and New York. (Bloodua/iStock/Getty Images)

Large gap between StatCan, USDA canola estimates

USDA sticks closer to StatCan expectations on wheat

MarketsFarm — There’s a significant difference in the amount of canola grown in Canada during 2022-23, in the estimate from Statistics Canada (StatCan) compared to that from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). Earlier in December, StatCan’s survey-based production of principal field crops report pegged this year’s canola harvest at 18.17 million tonnes. That’s a […] Read more

(Qingwa/iStock/Getty Images)

USDA supply/demand estimates show only minor updates

MarketsFarm — Updated supply-and-demand (WASDE) tables from the U.S. Department of Agriculture included only minimal adjustments to the U.S. and world numbers, with larger revisions likely in the New Year. U.S. soybean and wheat ending stocks projections for the current marketing year were left unchanged, while the corn number was raised slightly. Total U.S. corn […] Read more


CBOT January 2023 soybeans with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Soybeans climb to 2-1/2 month highs on strong exports

Wheat eases on disappointing exports

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures climbed on Thursday, supported by strong export demand, pushing the oilseed to nearly three-month highs. Wheat traded near even after Wednesday’s rebound from a one-year low, although prices remained capped by competition from record high Russian supplies. Corn followed soybeans higher. Movements in grains were limited as traders […] Read more

(Greg Berg photo)

CBOT weekly outlook: Soy futures find support, but upside limited

Corn activity mainly bearish

MarketsFarm — Solid export demand, a short squeeze by fund traders and production uncertainty in South America have all propped up Chicago soybean futures over the past week, with more gains possible ahead of the year-end before correcting lower, according to an analyst. With the South American harvest still some time away, “you might have […] Read more


(Scott Bauer photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. avian flu outbreak of 2022 wipes out record number of birds

Vast majority of caseload originated with wild birds: USDA

Chicago | Reuters — Avian flu has wiped out 50.54 million birds in the United States this year, making it the country’s deadliest outbreak in history, U.S. Department of Agriculture data showed Thursday. The deaths of chickens, turkeys and other birds represent the worst U.S. animal-health disaster to date, topping the previous record of 50.5 […] Read more