November 26th Grain Marketing Update

Good Morning!

I’d want to take this chance to wish all of you a Happy Thanksgiving! It’s a great time of year to reflect on all we have to be thankful for. While I know this year has been a challenge in many ways, I’m sure we can all find several things to be thankful for. The weather for us is transitioning back to a colder one. It appears we have a shot at some snow over the weekend as well. My buddy Eric Snodgrass says we have a better shot at a white Christmas in central Illinois than we’ve had in some time, so maybe it’s just going to get white and stay white. I know a few of you are still running based on feedback. Stay safe, and I hope you get some time with family this week anyway. For more information on AgMarket, CLICK HERE. 

Several of you have reached out about our winter conference on February 1 and 2. CLICK HERE to learn more and if you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask. 

The corn and bean markets have been fairly quiet to start this week. This isn’t something out of character by any means, as a lower-volume week around Thanksgiving is fairly common. With South American weather benign and no big news on the trade front, there just hasn’t been much to get the markets excited. Outside markets should have provided a positive bias:

• The US Dollar settled down .483 at 589
• January crude oil settled down .89 at 95
• The DOW settled up 665 points at 47,179

CORN
The corn market was quiet on Tuesday, with most contracts within a couple cents of unchanged. December corn closed ¼ lower at $4.23 ½. This was 2 ½ off the high and 1 ¼ off the low. Corn export inspections were strong but well below a week ago at 1.632 mmt. This keeps corn shipments ahead of pace to meet the USDA goal. While there’s not a whole lot in the way of news, one thing remains a boon for this market: big demand. This export market continues to impress while overall demand for both the US and the world remains at record levels. With strong basis levels in many areas lately, I believe it’s more of a function of end-users not getting what they planned on getting. While I feel this crop needs to be revised lower, I’m not sure it will be as big of an adjustment as many growers are hoping to see. Regardless, strong demand can stick around for a while and generally doesn’t fade until higher prices scare demand away. I’d stay flexible in the sales we’re making and keep some corn ownership as this market awaits a final production number in January. On Tuesday, December 2026 corn settled 1 ¾ higher 0n Tuesday at $4.61 ¾.

SOYBEANS
Soybeans have also had more of a muted tone so far this week. On Tuesday, January beans were up 1 ½ at $11.24 ¾. This was 4 off the high and 7 ½ off the low. Soybean meal was up 2.8 at 317, while soy oil was up .12 at 50.30. The weekly inspections showed beans at 779kt, which was below expectations on the week. We still haven’t seen China come in and take delivery of beans, and given Brazilian beans lower prices, there are a ton of questions as to when these beans might ship. While the shipments have yet to happen, the trade seems worried about the lack of sales, considering we’ve only sold about 2 mmt to China so far. As with corn, I’d look for opportunities to price some beans on rallies but keep flex while we’re doing it. On Tuesday, November 2026 beans closed 2 ½ higher at $11.19 ¼.

Matt Bennett 
mbennett@agmarket.net
815-665-0462 
@chief321