North Gower Grains

Thursday, July 16, 2026, 7:05 am

Wednesday was a positive day for our markets.  Harvest corn closed up 9, harvest soybeans closed up 10 3/4, harvest winter wheat closed up 26 and harvest spring wheat closed up 8 3/4.  In the overnight trade all of our markets remain on the positive side.  Oil closed up $0.26 yesterday at $79.60 per barrel.  It is flat in trading this morning with it now priced at $79.63.  Our dollar had a low yesterday morning of $0.711 US and then a high in the afternoon of $0.713 US.  This morning it is currently valued at $0.712 US. 

The wheat market led our commodities higher again yesterday and continues to be supported by the escalation of strategic bombings between Russia and Ukraine.  It is a great sign this morning for wheat prices going forward that they are still positive after the big run up yesterday and all of this week. It will be very interesting to see how much legs this market currently has as the marketplace is used to Ukraine and Russia both getting around previous shipping concerns to get their crops to the export markets. 

Soybean crush numbers out of the US are showing once again a record amount of soybeans utilised for crush in the month of June.  They crushed just over 214 million bushels which was up 15.69% from last year and 2.66% larger than in May.  Each month during the current marketing year they have crushed a new record amount.  This trend should continue for the rest of this year and into the next year with new crushing facilities coming on line in the US.  Remember soybean oil demand in the US for biodiesel is the underlying support for this market.

The market is still trying to decide how much of a weather premium it needs to add to corn and soybean prices.  The current excessive heat over the US Corn Belt is reportedly more extreme in the Northern Regions where less precipitation is being projected in the short term. 

Weekly ethanol production in the US was down 5% week over week to come in at 1.04 million barrels per day.  Blender demand was flat with exports down for the week.  The decreased production is not seen as a major concern with it coming the week after a US holiday week.  Gasoline demand is usually lower that week after much travelling was completed over the Independence Day holiday.  The marketplace will be looking for a rebound in production next week.