January 7th Grain Marketing Update

Check out the Farming for Profit, Not Price Conference in Nashville, TN,  on January 31-February 2.
This event brings together leading minds in agriculture, finance, and trade for a weekend focused on managing risk, navigating challenging markets, and building relationships that last well beyond the event.
For more information, check out this short video. 

Good Morning!

I hope this first week of the new year is treating you right. It’s officially speaking season now, so I have some travel coming up. While this week I’m in Springfield, Iowa, and Nebraska, next week I travel to Minnesota, Nebraska (again), and Kentucky. I enjoy it, thank goodness, but one thing that isn’t great is being gone from home so much. Fortunately, the family can go with me much of the time. I know several of you are coming to our Nashville conference, so if I don’t get to meet you otherwise, I hope we get a chance to visit with you there. We have a few more weeks of basketball, and at this point, it looks like I’ll only miss one game-a big-time win for sure. For more information on AgMarket, CLICK HERE.  https://hubs.li/Q03qt2Qd0  

For those still wanting to sign up for the conference on February 1 and 2, CLICK HERE. https://web.cvent.com/event/327d2477-70a8-48b2-a270-5fb9e53dbe52/summary

The markets were strong on Monday but gave some back on Tuesday. Given the busy weekend, I wasn’t sure how we’d trade this week, but so far I’m pretty happy with what we’ve seen. The weather in South America remains somewhat of a bearish influence, with most estimates for Brazil and Argentina being quite impressive. Outside markets should have provided a mixed bias:

• The US Dollar settled up .335 at 317
• February crude oil settled down 19 at 57.13
• The DOW settled up 493 points at 49,721        

CORN

 The corn market posted a nice rally on Monday but gave some back on Tuesday. March corn closed ½ lower at $4.44. This was 3 off the high and ½ off the low. Corn export inspections were below expectations for the first week in a long time at 756 kmt. The USDA might increase exports next week, but of course, the biggest number everyone is looking for is the yield. If they’d drop yield, my guess is harvested acres could increase a bit, while feed usage would need to move lower. I am hoping for a bullish report this coming Monday, but in the meantime, at least the markets seem to want to stabilize. Last week was rough, no doubt about it. However, I assume some money might flow into ag commodities given how "cheap" they look compared to other asset classes. My hope is we see a little better opportunity than we saw in 2025, but if we do, we need to have a plan in place and ready to act. On Tuesday, December 2026 corn settled 1 ½ lower at $4.61 ¾.              

BEANS

Soybeans had a strong day, gaining 15-16 cents on Monday, before giving some back on Tuesday. March beans were down 5 ¾ at $10.56 ¼. This was 12 ½ off the high and ¾ off the low. March soybean meal was down .4 at 299.5, while soy oil was up .47 at 49.40. The weekly inspections showed beans at 1.177 mmt, which was in the middle of expectations. This bean market also had a rough week, and, as with corn, we’re seeing better markets unfold on an overall basis this week. With the report, while many are hoping for a yield drop for US beans, I’m not too sure we’ll get it. Even if we do, this Brazilian crop looks awfully big, so it may be tough to see the bean market rally without something we aren’t aware of just yet. The domestic situation for beans is fairly tight, but US beans are currently running at a premium to Brazilian beans of almost a dollar. I’m not sure we’re going to export many more beans given how expensive US beans remain. On Tuesday, November 2026 beans closed 7 ¾ lower at $10.67 ¾.   

Matt Bennett 
815-665-0462 – Work 
@chief321 - Twitter  
mbennett@agmarket.net – E-mail