Corn Market Update

? Prices:

• July Corn (CN): $4.17 1/2, up 8 cents
• December Corn (CZ): $4.27, up 6 cents
• July/September Spread (CN/CU): +6, up a 1/2 cent on the day
• For the week: CN was down 11 1/4 cents; CZ was down 14 1/4 cents

? Market Headlines:

• While corn futures were able to bounce today, futures still lost ground week-over-week. Easing geopolitical tensions, a sizeable Brazilian corn crop, and favorable U.S. growing conditions continues to hang over the market.

• Lower corn prices week-over-week boosted domestic ethanol margins.

• Argentine export taxes are increasing this weekend for corn.

• Global buyers are still reportedly looking toward S America for their near term corn needs. For now, S. hemisphere sellers have not been willing to become aggressive with their values.  Recent reports have the Koreans looking for corn, Egypt shopping for July corn, Vietnam for September, and Japan for October. 

• The Buenos Aires Exchange is calling Argentina's corn harvest 55% complete, with yields up 15% from average, and up 21% versus a year ago.

• USDA will release Planted Acreage and Grain Stocks reports at 11am CT on Monday June 30^th. Private estimates average 95.4 million corn acres and quarterly corn stocks as of June 1 near 4.641 billion bushels.

Summary:

Short covering pushed corn values higher today. There continues to be little bullish news on the corn front. Mostly favorable short term growing conditions across the Ag Belt should keep crop conditions steady on Monday.

Soybean Market Update

? Prices:

• July Soybeans (SN): $10.27 3/4, up 5 cents
• November Soybeans (SX): $10.24 3/4, 8 1/4 cents higher
• July Soybean Meal (MN): $271.10, up 20 cents/ton
• July Soybean Oil (LN): 54.45, down 0.07 cents/lb
• July/August Spread (SN/SQ): -5 1/2, down a 1/2 cent
• For the week: SN was down 40 1/4 cents; SX was down 36 cents; MN was down $13.00/ton; and LN was off 2.02 cents/lb

? Market Headlines:

• Private exporters this morning reported sales of 119,746 metric tons of soybeans for delivery to Mexico during the 2025/2026 marketing year.

• News headlines show progress being made in regard to trade negotiations with China as they have agreed to export rare earth metal and magnets to the U.S. in exchange for the U.S. dropping tariffs and restrictions on semiconductors and agreeing to keep visas for Chinese students. Thus far, no agreement has been made on U.S. ag goods. 

• The Chinese have been active buyers of S. American soybeans this week, picking up cargoes out of Brazil for August, September, March and July 2026. China has yet to make a new crop U.S. soybean purchases, although there are 1.338 MMT’s of new crop sales marked as “unknown”. Last year the week of July 4^th marked China’s first new crop purchase.

• House Republicans are pushing Senate Republicans to accept their version of the tax bill which removes all tax credits from imported feedstocks, but allows credits for N. American feedstocks (including canola oil).

• USDA will release Planted Acreage and Grain Stocks reports at 11am CT on Monday June 30^th. Private estimates average 83.7 million soybean acres and quarterly bean stocks as of June 1 near 980 million bushels.

Summary:

Friday was also a slow day for headlines in the soy complex other than flash soybean sale to Mexico, as biofuel related news was mostly absent and there continues to be no developments regarding a trade deal with China benefiting ag specifically. After seeing lower trade for most of the week, technical buying and positioning in front of Monday's USDA reports emerged, driving values higher.

? Prices:

• July Chicago Wheat (WN): $5.24 3/4, up 3 3/4 cents
• December Chicago Wheat (WZ): $5.63, 3 1/4 cents higher
• July/September Spread WN/WU: -16, down 1/4 cent
• For the week: WN and WZ were both down 43 cents

? Market Headlines:

• Stats Canda released acreage numbers, pegging all wheat at 26.9 million acres, a slight uptick from the 26.6 million seeded in 2024.

• Wheat areas in Australia and Argentina are in need of rain.

• The Buenos Aires Exchange estimates Argentina's wheat planting is up 15% from a year ago.

• USDA will release Planted Acreage and Grain Stocks reports at 11am CT on Monday June 30^th. Private estimates average 45.4 million wheat acres and quarterly wheat stocks as of June 1 near 836 million bushels.

Summary:

Short covering also drove Chicago wheat futures higher as well as positioning in front of Monday's reports and the end of the quarter. Winter wheat harvest is underway in the U.S. Reports of good test weight and low vomitoxin are common.

In Other News

• Livestock markets were mixed today with cattle trading higher and hogs either side of unchanged.
• August live cattle: $209.82, down $1.85; outside day lower
• August feeder cattle: $302.45, down $1.72
• July lean hogs: $112.77, up 60 cents; new contract highs at 113.02

• Live cattle and feeders found renewed buying interest today driving prices higher. Firmer equity markets also provided some support.

• Hogs gapped lower on the opening following yesterday's somewhat bearish hog and pig report. The August contract was able to fill the opening gap while the December contract was not.

• Outside markets:
• Crude oil futures: down around 16 cents/bbl
• Stock index futures: The Dow Jones index is up 314 points, the S&P500 index is up 18 points, and the NASDAQ is up 41 points
• US $ Index: up 23 points

• Oil prices have held fairly steady the past three days, after moving sharply lower early in the week. The WTI contract is down almost $10 per barrel week-over-week.

• The dollar index is higher after falling to a 3-year low yesterday.

• The NASDAQ and S&P 500 have marked new all-time highs.

• May's Core PCE Index rose .2%, slightly above expectations and was up 2.7% YOY, also just above expectations. 

• Personal income in May fell .4% compared to expectations for a .3% increase. 

Weather Outlook

? Short-term Forecast:

• The EU forecast calls for additional scattered rains across most of the eastern half of the U.S., though totals look to likely be light and coverage will be difficult to forecast. Nonetheless, the removal of riding from the southeastern U.S. should be overall crop-positive as we head into next week.

• Temperatures over the weekend will be warm again for the most part, as a bulk of the Corn Belt looks to see highs in the mid-90's throughout the day on Saturday, with mid/lower 90's expected then on Sunday. 

? Extended Forecast:

• The 8-14 day forecast look for the ridge to shift west and temperatures to run closer to average. Additional precipitation and warm temperatures are expected across the Central portion of the Midwest into week two followed by heat building across the Central U.S. in week three.