Good Morning!
I hope all is well for you and yours. We had a great Thanksgiving week, but the house is a little less full at this point. I know many of you had some snow, and we had the heaviest snow we’ve had in a while. With 7-8 inches, the kids had one heck of a time sledding and even roped me into a snowball fight. We had another 3-4 inches on Monday, so maybe we will just keep this snow around for a while, even in central Illinois. No fieldwork is going on, but, to be fair, most, if not all, of that is completed in our area. A few need to plow some tile in, so we’ll see if it happens. I appreciate the feedback-keep it coming and have a great week. For more information on AgMarket, click here.
Several of you have asked for more details on our winter conference. HERE is the link, but if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask. The dates are February 1 and 2.
The corn and bean markets started the week with some red on the screen on Monday, but Tuesday saw buying come in for corn. With tensions heightened with the Russia/Ukraine situation, we saw buying for both corn and wheat. The weather in South America remains benign, so no excitement just yet with regards to the size of the Brazilian first crop of soybeans. Outside markets should have provided a mixed bias:
CORN
The corn market had some nice buying come in on Tuesday. March corn closed 5 higher at $4.50. This was 2 ¼ off the high and 7 ¾ off the low. Corn export inspections were above expectations but below a week ago at 1.421 mmt. This keeps corn shipments well ahead of pace to meet the USDA goal. While demand has remained stellar, there are still plenty of question marks about just how much corn we produced in 2025. It’s a big crop no matter how we look at it, but IF we drop the yield as I assume we will in December and/or January on the USDA report, it could give this corn market some support. U.S. and world demand continue at a record pace, so the need for big production is for real. As mentioned previously, Russian president Putin made it clear they’re ready for war if Europe or others want to question whether the peace deal should go through or not. Another thing some are wondering is whether China might come in and buy some corn. Given massive flooding in areas where they’re trying to harvest, some are estimating Chinese corn production could dip 10-15 mmt. I’m maintaining an interest in owning some corn, but I also like to sell incrementally on rallies. Let us know if you’d like help getting a plan in place to do just that. On Tuesday, December 2026 corn settled 2 ¼ higher on Tuesday at $4.69 ¼.
SOYBEANS
Soybeans have been dead to start the week. On Tuesday, January beans were down 3 ¼ at $11.24 ¾. This was 11 off the high and 1 ½ off the low. January soybean meal was down 3 at 311.6, while soy oil was up .32 at 52.68. The weekly inspections showed beans at 920kt, which was below expectations but ahead of a week ago. We are hearing some beans are getting shipped to China finally, but the sales still need to pick up the pace big-time. To get to 12 mmt, it’s going to take around a half a million tons per weekday, counting out the holidays to reach this goal. I still believe China buys the beans, but we can’t expect we’ll race higher if they do. The thing that would really drive a soy rally would be more along the lines of South American weather than anything and right now, that looks like it may be a stretch. On Tuesday, November 2026 beans closed 2 lower at $11.23.
Matt Bennett
mbennett@agmarket.net
815-665-0462
@chief321