Monday, January 3, 2026, 6:45 am

Friday was yet another negative day for our markets.  Spot corn closed down 2 3/4, spot soybeans closed down 1 3/4, spot winter wheat closed down 1/2 and spot spring wheat closed down 3 1/4.  In the overnight trade all of our markets have made it back to the positive side.  Oil closed down $0.10 on Friday at $57.32 per barrel.  It is stronger in trading this morning with it now valued at $57.46 per barrel.  Our dollar traded between a low of $0.727 US and a high of $0.730 US on Friday with it closing out at $0.728 US.  It is lower in trading this morning with it now currently valued at $0.726 US.

The soybean market has given back roughly 70% of the gains it made back in harvest.  Those gains were driven by Speculative Funds switching from a small short position (looking for prices to go lower) to a record large long position (looking for prices to go higher).  This position has since been reduced from over 250,000 contracts to about 150,000 contracts and prices have pulled back.  The negative threat still exists that if the position is further reduced it will put more downward pressure on prices going forward.  For the funds to continue to hold the position they are gambling that supplies will be decreased this year (not in Brazil) most likely with reduced acres and / or production levels in the US.

Soybeans crushed in the US for the month of November came in at 220.5 million bushels.  This was down from the all-time monthly record of 237.0 million bushels in October.  The November crush was still the second largest on record for the US.  The average daily rate of crush in November was 7.35 million bushels per day which was down from 7.62 million bushels per day in October.  The total crush so far this year is up 8.2% from last year.  We should note that the USDA is only projecting a year over year increase of 4.5%.  Both soybean oil and soybean meal stocks increased in November with usage levels down a bit.

Last week was a negative week for our markets.  The CBOT pulled back for all of our markets and the lower prices in soybeans were a result of both the lower CBOT and weaker local basis levels.  Both spot corn and this year’s harvest were down $5 per tonne for the week.  Soybeans were down $19 per tonne on the spot market and $16 per tonne for this year’s harvest.  Spring wheat was down $2 per tonne on the spot market and $3 per tonne for this year’s harvest.  Winter wheat was down $3 per tonne on the spot market and $4 per tonne for this year’s harvest.