Taj Mahal Chicken Coups; Starving for Health; Climate and Trade Wars; E15 Push
Taj Mahal Chicken Coups California voters are once again set to roil agricultural producers elsewhere in the nation as they vote 6 November on Proposition 12. Pushed by animal rights advocates who are outspending opponents, it would mandate specific growing conditions such as enlarged spaces fo...
Market Commentary
It was a trade war-influenced day at the CBOT with China adding tariffs to another $60 billion of U.S. products in a retaliatory response to the latest Trump-imposed tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. The back-and-forth tariffs are not really causing further damage to major agricultural...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEANCOMMENTS Afghanistan has received the first lot of Pakistan’s 40,000 MT wheat donation. The shipment of just under 400 MT was delivered at the same time the new Pakistani foreign minister was visiting the country. The Middle East/African region&rs...
Market Commentary
Markets traded mixed during the overnight session but closed with wheat up 6-7 cents and small gains for corn and soybeans. Today’s session traded much the same way with corn and soybean futures markets mostly steady and wheat higher. Volume was less than average, which has been the case...
Trade Policy Mixer; Developing Country Risks; Farm Bill and Crisis
Trade Policy Mixer China: President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered the Treasury Department to move forward with punitive duties on an additional $200 billion worth of imports from China. No one is expecting the trade war to end anytime soon. Iran: The EU is creating a “special purpos...
Oilseed Highlights: WASDE; Argentina’s 2019 Soybean Crop; U.S. Export Sales
Plentiful Soybean Supplies USDA yesterday confirmed the U.S. will harvest a record soybean crop once again in 2018, forecasting the average national yield at 52.8 bushels/acre (3.55 MT/hectare) and a record production of 4.693 billion bushels (127.74 MMT). Even though it raised the estima...
Down with the U.S. Dollar; Misreading Africa; Weltpolitikfähigkeit
Down with the U.S. Dollar European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker is not the first, but he is the most significant world leader to propose shedding the use of the U.S. dollar in financial transactions. Donald Trump is not the first U.S. president to use the USD’s dominance in transac...
Market Commentary: The Bear that Ate the Corn Market
The WASDE was undeniably bearish with December corn and November soybean futures reaching new contract lows (actually, soybeans hit the low before and after the WASDE’s release), while wheat futures were down double-digits in response to the latest news. The headline numbers cratering the...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region importers of maize and wheat from Argentina will be facing higher prices due to the new taxes added to exports by that country’s government. However, many Argentine exporters had expected the tax in...
Transatlantic Technical Barriers; African Ag Reform; A WTO Agenda
Transatlantic Technical Barrier Mashup Brussels is reportedly and understandably cautious about trade negotiations with the Trump administration. Worse, there is a huge chasm about what will even be negotiated. Washington wants to talk about agriculture and technical barriers; Brussels not so m...
Market Commentary
Early firming of prices in the overnight session had some traders hoping that Turnaround Tuesday had been postponed until Wednesday due to the holiday. However, it was not to be. After the beating they took yesterday, wheat futures did hold a few cents higher at the trading recess, but corn and...
Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 27-31 August 2018 Grain prices were mainly on an upward trend as sellers limited offer. Milling wheat export prices fell $3/MT to $225/MT FOB Black Sea, and purchase prices at seaports again increased in RUB expression but decreased in USD expression to $186-191/MT...
Taj Mahal Chicken Coups; Starving for Health; Climate and Trade Wars; E15 Push
Taj Mahal Chicken Coups California voters are once again set to roil agricultural producers elsewhere in the nation as they vote 6 November on Proposition 12. Pushed by animal rights advocates who are outspending opponents, it would mandate specific growing conditions such as enlarged spaces fo...
Market Commentary
It was a trade war-influenced day at the CBOT with China adding tariffs to another $60 billion of U.S. products in a retaliatory response to the latest Trump-imposed tariffs on $200 billion of Chinese goods. The back-and-forth tariffs are not really causing further damage to major agricultural...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEANCOMMENTS Afghanistan has received the first lot of Pakistan’s 40,000 MT wheat donation. The shipment of just under 400 MT was delivered at the same time the new Pakistani foreign minister was visiting the country. The Middle East/African region&rs...
Market Commentary
Markets traded mixed during the overnight session but closed with wheat up 6-7 cents and small gains for corn and soybeans. Today’s session traded much the same way with corn and soybean futures markets mostly steady and wheat higher. Volume was less than average, which has been the case...
Trade Policy Mixer; Developing Country Risks; Farm Bill and Crisis
Trade Policy Mixer China: President Donald Trump has reportedly ordered the Treasury Department to move forward with punitive duties on an additional $200 billion worth of imports from China. No one is expecting the trade war to end anytime soon. Iran: The EU is creating a “special purpos...
Oilseed Highlights: WASDE; Argentina’s 2019 Soybean Crop; U.S. Export Sales
Plentiful Soybean Supplies USDA yesterday confirmed the U.S. will harvest a record soybean crop once again in 2018, forecasting the average national yield at 52.8 bushels/acre (3.55 MT/hectare) and a record production of 4.693 billion bushels (127.74 MMT). Even though it raised the estima...
Down with the U.S. Dollar; Misreading Africa; Weltpolitikfähigkeit
Down with the U.S. Dollar European Union President Jean-Claude Juncker is not the first, but he is the most significant world leader to propose shedding the use of the U.S. dollar in financial transactions. Donald Trump is not the first U.S. president to use the USD’s dominance in transac...
Market Commentary: The Bear that Ate the Corn Market
The WASDE was undeniably bearish with December corn and November soybean futures reaching new contract lows (actually, soybeans hit the low before and after the WASDE’s release), while wheat futures were down double-digits in response to the latest news. The headline numbers cratering the...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Middle East/North Africa (MENA) region importers of maize and wheat from Argentina will be facing higher prices due to the new taxes added to exports by that country’s government. However, many Argentine exporters had expected the tax in...
Transatlantic Technical Barriers; African Ag Reform; A WTO Agenda
Transatlantic Technical Barrier Mashup Brussels is reportedly and understandably cautious about trade negotiations with the Trump administration. Worse, there is a huge chasm about what will even be negotiated. Washington wants to talk about agriculture and technical barriers; Brussels not so m...
Market Commentary
Early firming of prices in the overnight session had some traders hoping that Turnaround Tuesday had been postponed until Wednesday due to the holiday. However, it was not to be. After the beating they took yesterday, wheat futures did hold a few cents higher at the trading recess, but corn and...
Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 27-31 August 2018 Grain prices were mainly on an upward trend as sellers limited offer. Milling wheat export prices fell $3/MT to $225/MT FOB Black Sea, and purchase prices at seaports again increased in RUB expression but decreased in USD expression to $186-191/MT...