GRAIN CALLS
Corn: 4 to 6 cents lower.
Soybeans: 6 to 8 cents lower.
Wheat: Steady to 3 cents lower.
GENERAL COMMENTS: Corn is trading near technical support after giving up all of Monday’s gain the past couple sessions. Wheat saw an increase in buying interest this morning but still is trading near recent lows. Front-month crude oil futures are modestly higher this morning on corrective strength while the U.S. dollar index is over 330 points higher and is trading near recent highs.
USDA reported daily sales of 100,000 MT of corn for delivery to Mexico during the 2026-27 marketing year.
When Chinese President Xi Jinping touches down in Washington today it will mark three years since he last visited the U.S. His much-anticipated summit with President Trump “will offer the leaders of the world’s two largest economies a chance to improve personal ties and look for common ground on contentious topics including trade, artificial intelligence, the Iran war and the future of Taiwan,” said Bloomberg. Xi and Trump are expected to seek an extension of the October 2025 truce in the trade war. The truce scaled back the tariffs both countries had imposed on each other’s goods and suspended some proposed export controls on shipments of products including Chinese rare earths. The two nations have been discussing whether to go further and to slash duties on goods including U.S. energy and agricultural products ahead of the leaders’ summit. That’s under an earlier initiative to ease import barriers on $30 billion worth of products from each side under a Board of Trade mechanism. “China is making steady progress on a pledge to buy 25 million tons of U.S. soybeans annually through 2028, recently passing the halfway mark for this year. Progress on a separate commitment to spend at least another $17 billion on American crops looks more challenging,” said the report. Other purchases from the U.S. have been slow. Beef imports, for example, totaled just $7 million in the first seven months of the year — a fraction of the $556 million in 2025, according to Bloomberg Economics. China renewed permits for supplies from hundreds of American beef processing plants in May, but shipments have barely recovered as surging U.S. prices and weak Chinese demand curbed beef purchases.
Republican lawmakers are lining up behind a ban on U.S. diesel exports as pump prices set records less than two months before the midterms, Bloomberg reported. Alaska Sen. Dan Sullivan, trailing Democrat Mary Peltola and among the GOP’s most vulnerable incumbents, joined the call Tuesday. The push is coming from farm and swing-state Republicans who say $6-plus diesel is crushing growers and truckers. Iowa Senator Chuck Grassley has compared an export embargo to 1970s food-export limits. Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson, also running for Senate, wants exports paused and the gas tax suspended. Tennessee’s Tim Burchett has a bill; South Dakota’s John Thune says he is open to looking at it. Even Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry, whose state is a refining and export hub, has floated a 90-day ban. President Trump said Tuesday he has already told aides, “let’s not send out the diesel.”
Global biofuel output is set to surge nearly 70% by 2030 from 2025 levels, according to a Chatham House and Forest Stewardship Council study reported by Reuters. The jump follows a wave of higher blending mandates in Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, the United States and the European Union after the Iran war drove fossil-fuel prices higher. Most of that extra fuel would still come from food and feed crops such as corn and sugarcane. If the proposed mandates are fully implemented, land used for biofuel feedstocks could more than double from 2023 levels, adding about 36 million hectares — an area the size of Germany. The authors warn that demand may rise faster than certification, land-use planning and enforcement. That raises risks of food-price spikes, deforestation and water stress. Crude oil has risen nearly 40% since the war began in late February; sugar and corn are up about 20%. Waste-based “advanced” biofuels would ease the land pressure, but first-generation crop fuels are what policy is scaling now.
CORN: December corn continues to pullback. Support stands at $5.28 1/4, the 20-day moving average, which capped losses late last week. Bulls are looking to close prices above yesterday’s high of $5.44 1/2.
SOYBEANS: November soybeans are trading near 10-day moving average support at $13.15. Additional selling pressure finds support at $13.09. Resistance comes in at $13.25 then the contract high of $13.35 1/4.
WHEAT: December SRW wheat defended 40-day moving average support overnight at $7.12 1/2, which remains key support. Weakness below that mark eyes support at $7.06. Resistance stands at $7.25 on a bounce.
LIVESTOCK CALLS
CATTLE: Choppy/higher.
HOGS: Choppy/higher.
CATTLE: Live and feeder cattle futures are expected to open with a mostly firmer tone on technical buying. Bulls are looking to defend key technical support after bouncing prices off 10-day moving average support on Tuesday. Cash cattle trade initiated at $222.00 early this week, modestly below last week’s average. Choice beef rose $2.54 to $378.89 Tuesday, extending the recent bounce.
HOGS: Lean hog futures are expected to open with a mostly firmer tone in a continuation of recent strength. Prices bounced from technical support Tuesday but are still trending lower on the daily bar chart. Cash market seasonal declines will continue to weigh on prices, as the CME lean hog index is down another 49 cents to $82.92 as of Sept. 21. Pork cutout fell 92 cents to $87.99 Tuesday, led by losses in bellies.