Wednesday, April 11, 2026, 7:15 am

Tuesday was a positive day for our markets.  Spot corn closed up 1 3/4, spot soybeans closed up 8 3/4, harvest winter wheat closed up 6 3/4 and harvest spring wheat closed up 11 1/2.  In the overnight trade all of our markets remain on the positive side.  Oil closed up $2.25 yesterday at $89.67 per barrel.  It is stronger again this morning with it now trading at $90.15 per barrel.  Our dollar has traded between a low of $0.731 US and a high of $0.734 US over the last 24 hours.  This morning it is currently valued at $0.732 US.

The ceasefire in the war with Iran seems to be holding with President Trump holding off on a threat to resume bombings.  He says that peace talks are proceeding however it is hard to know if that is truly happening at this time.  Net result is that crude oil prices are starting to increase again.

Soybean oil prices led the soybean complex higher yesterday.  Of course the higher price of crude oil helped to support soybean oil prices.  More and more talk about biodiesel blends with Indonesia raising their blend with palm oil from 43% up to a mandatory 50%.  This is looking like a general trend and will result in much more vegetable oils being utilised for fuel.

Nearby soybean prices have traded on the CBOT within a 20 cent range for the last 25 days.  This market is looking for a reason to go higher or lower.  As we mentioned above soybean oil demand is helping to keep it in the current price range.  The record crop being harvested in Brazil is most definitely a negative drag on prices.  The possibility of increased purchases for old crop soybeans by China out of the US is a positive for this market.  However, if this does not happen it will be a big negative.  The possibility of increased acreage in the US this year is also a negative with thoughts about higher fertiliser costs potentially further decreasing corn acres.  All in all whatever major factor moves the quickest will probably decide the fate of this market going forward.

One interesting thing to look at over the last week is that managed money liquidated a significant amount of their long position (looking for prices to go up).  The best part of the reduction in their position was that it did not pull prices lower as that is always a fear when a long position is decreased.