Tuesday, March 17, 2026, 7:25 am

Monday was a big negative day for our markets.  Spot corn closed down 13 1/4, spot soybeans closed down 70, harvest soybeans closed down 40 3/4, harvest winter wheat closed down 16 3/4 and harvest spring wheat closed down 10 1/2.  In the overnight trade corn, soybeans and winter wheat are positive with spring wheat negative.  Oil closed down $5.21 yesterday at $93.50 per barrel.  It is stronger in trading this morning with it now valued at $96.32 per barrel.  Our dollar had a high yesterday morning before noon of $0.732 US and has trended lower since then.  This morning it is currently valued at $0.730 US.

President’s Trump statement on Sunday night that he might delay his meeting with President Xi unless China helps to open up the Strait of Hormuz sent our markets negative.  Soybeans were the anchor and they started out negative and went further down all day until they hit the daily limit.  The only good thing to say is that harvest soybeans only went down $0.40 cents not the limit of $0.70 per bushel.  Corn and wheat followed soybeans lower.  Thankfully this morning prices have levelled off and as noted above are trading mixed.

Further to President Trump’s statement a further announcement was made out of the US that any delay in the meeting would be caused by President Trump being busy coordinating US war efforts against Iran.  Remember also that the current negotiations between the China and the US resulted in another announcement that China would be purchasing their 25 million tonne soybean commitment for the next couple of years.  It also stated that China was open to increased agricultural purchases from the US including other row crops.  This could include corn and wheat which would of course be very supportive prices going forward.

Yesterday we talked about the near record long position (looking for prices to go up) that Speculative Funds held in the soybean market.  It is highly likely that they liquidated a good portion of that yesterday and this helped to push prices as far down as they went. 

On the technical and supportive side for soybean prices in February the US crushed a new record of 7.46 million bushels per day.  Total crush came in at 208.785 million bushels which was a new record for February and was up 10.57% from last year.  Currently in the US the soybean crush makes up for just over 60% of total US soybean demand on an annual basis with exports being just under 40%.

After the negative day yesterday the big question is whether sales should be made now before President Trump does something that drives prices even lower or will prices bounce back?  Nobody has the magic answer for this and as such each operation needs to take a look at their own marketing position and decide what risk they want to take going forward.  Knowing your cost of production is truly the first step that most farmers need to get a better handle on then you truly can make an educated decision on when to sell.  Give us a call anytime and we can assist you in this endeavour.

St. Patrick’s Day thought – May you live as long as you want and never want as long as you live!