Morning Markets: Corn: +1.25 old & +2 new.
Beans: +0.75 old & -0.25 new. Wheat: -0.25 old & -0.75 new.
Topflight Grain is offering Free DP on soybeans to all full-time locations except Maroa based on space availability good through August 31, 2026.
We are also offering Free DP on corn delivered to Pierson and Milmine based on space availability good through August 31, 2026.
MARKET SUMMARY:
Good morning. Happy Friday. Choppy trade is once again the theme this morning, with the ag space seeing small trading ranges and light volume in the overnight session, much like has been the case to start previous days this week. We've talked about risk adjustment and position squaring all week, and see today as being no different as the funds are still rather long the space as a whole and as another weekend of potential Iran headlines lies ahead. Markets are reacting less violently in recent days to changes in the broader situation, but we certainly can't promise that this continues even through the day today, let alone through the weekend and into next week. Corn futures to start Friday are trading 1-2 cents higher, soybean futures are trading unchanged to a penny higher, and the Chicago wheat market is trading unchanged to a half cent lower.
Crude Oil is up $0.44 at $96.29
US Dollar is down at $98.68
Dow futures are down 137 points at 49,353
WEATHER:
- Storms that worked across the western and west-central parts of the Midwest last night and through the early hours this morning look to continue to working across the southeast today and into tomorrow, but otherwise, a lot of the Corn Belt looks set for a couple days of dryness through the weekend before another low pressure system provides more moisture potential for a wide swath of the region early next week. How this system develops the next couple days will be closely watched, but for now, models have an additional roughly 1-3" possible for an area from NE to KY and LA to MN, with exact amounts and locations highly variable.
- Temperatures through the weekend and into the first part of next week will be much like the last couple days, as slightly warmer than normal air lingers across most of the Corn Belt while cooler air from Canada stays mostly anchored to the north and west.
OTHER HEADLINES:
- The USDA released monthly livestock slaughter data yesterday afternoon which showed total US red meat production in the month of March at 4.511 bil lbs, which was up nearly 9% from February and up some 3% from March of last year. Beef production at 2.096 bil lbs was down 2.7% on the year, while pork production at 2.401 bil lbs was up 6.5%.
- The International Grains Council (the IGC) said in a monthly update on Thursday that global grain production in the 2026/27 season was expected to be lower than previously forecast largely due to the conflict in the Middle East and its effect on input costs. The group pegged production at 2.414 billion tons, down some 3 million tons from their estimate last month.
- Weekly crop data from the Buenos Aires Grain Exchange showed a 0.1 MMT increase in the group's soybean production estimate for Argentina to 48.6 MMTs despite the harvested area figure being lowered by some 400k hectares to 17.2 million. Harvest, meanwhile, was seen at 10.2% complete, which is well behind the 30-40% average for the date. For corn, production was left unchanged at 61.0 MMTs, while harvest advanced just 1.8% on the week to 26.5% complete.
- Private Russian Consultancy IKAR said on Friday that they see Russian wheat production in 2026 now at 90 MMTs, which is down 1 MMT from a previous estimate on weather issues across parts of the Central and Volga regions. The group also lowered their export forecast a like one million tons to 46.5 MMTs.
- Weekly data from the USDA showed barge shipments down the Mississippi River in the week ending April 18th at 720k tons, which was up nearly 43% from the week prior. Corn shipments at 416k tons were up 32.5% on the week, and soybean shipments at 280k tons were up 56.4%. STL barge freight rates were quoted at $18.11/short ton, which was down 16 cents from the week prior.
EXPORT NEWS:
- N/A
Be careful!
Bailey Runyen
Grain Originator | Topflight Grain Coop.
101 N. Main St. | Cisco, IL 61830
Phone :: 217-669-2141
Email :: brunyen@tfgrain.com
