Note: Markets and government offices will be closed Friday for the Juneteenth federal holiday. As a result, there will be no Pro Farmer updates.
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Sen. Charles Grassley warned this week that the long-fought effort to allow year-round sales of E15 – a gasoline blend containing 15% ethanol – is hanging by a thread in the upper chamber.
“If we don’t get E15 this year, we’re never going to get it,” Grassley said on a weekly call with agriculture reporters, according to E&E Daily. E15 legislation narrowly passed the House after months of wrangling. A standalone bill, however, is seen as an exceedingly tough sell in the Senate, where a measure would need 60 votes to overcome the filibuster.
In a floor speech earlier this week, Grassley warned that options for achieving passage were limited.
“When the Senate’s only in session about three days out of the week, we aren’t getting much done with separate pieces of legislation,” he said. “So, something like E15 is going to have to find a home in some other bill – the Farm Bill, the defense bill, appropriations bills – but we aren’t talking about what that’s going to do. And I just mentioned three possibilities, and there aren’t a whole lot of other possibilities.”
Cattle on Feed: The Cattle on Feed Report from USDA released Thursday afternoon showed May placements down 10% from a year ago – steeper than the average trade guess of a 7.2% drop. Marketings were down 10%, the second-lowest since the series began in 1996. Cattle on feed as of June 1 totaled 11.7 million head, 2% above the same time last year and below the average estimate for a 2.3% increase.
- The Monday morning reaction is likely to lean neutral-to-friendly, though any fresh developments around New World screwworm could play a role in price action, says Pro Farmer’s Hillari Mason. Lower May placements and aggressive marketings signal persistently tight fed cattle supplies through summer and fall 2026.
Attacks threaten Ukraine exports: A rise in Russian attacks on Ukrainian seaports and vessels could cut monthly grain shipments by as much as a third , Reuters reported, with terminal operators facing mounting losses they say they cannot cover alone. The report noted that Ukraine relies heavily on its Black Sea ports, which handle more than 90% of its exports.Three exporters and industry officials told the newswire that intensified missile and drone attacks on ports, ships, railways and energy infrastructure are threatening the flow of cargoes.
Russia had initially blocked Ukraine/s key seaports following its invasion in February 2022, forcing Ukraine to shift exports to Danube ports. Following a deal to allow grain through the Black Sea, ports in the Odesa region have handled around 6 million tons of cargo a month, the report said. “Potentially, export volumes from Odesa ports could fall to 4 million metric tons a month because of the attacks,” Taras Vysotskyi, Ukraine’s deputy economy minister, told Reuters. “About 1 million tons could be redirected to Danube terminals, but not more than that — logistics there are expensive."”
Shippers fear Iran will get its way on Hormuz tolls: Shipping executives are expressing concern that the U.S.-Iran peace deal clears the way for Iran to charge tolls on shipping through the Strait of Hormuz after 60 days, the Financial Times reported. Before the war, the crucial waterway was free to use. Under the terms of the accord signed on Wednesday, Iran will negotiate with Oman and other Gulf states over the “future administration and maritime services in the Strait of Hormuz.” The report said executives fear the language opens the door for Iran to charge for use of the waterway or to start a fund along the lines of that used for the Strait of Malacca, which runs between Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore.
“The final outcome of these discussions must be a reinforcement of the central tenet that the Strait of Hormuz must remain free of charges,” said Philip Belcher, marine director of the tanker industry body Intertanko, according to the report.
Bessent urged to confront China on weak yuan: A pair of bipartisan senators – Republican Rick Scott of Florida and Democrat Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts – urged Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to work with allies in the wake of this week’s Group of Seven leaders summit to pressure China over what they said was a deliberate effort by Beijing to undervalue the yuan.
“Our G7 allies share concerns about China’s currency, and the aftermath of the summit presents an opportunity to coordinate a unified response,” they wrote to the Treasury secretary in a letter dated June 18, Bloomberg reported. They called for an effort that “pressures China to allow market-driven appreciation and full transparency in its exchange rate practices.”
Seed industry cheers EU vote: The American Seed Trade Association praised the European Parliament’s adoption of the European Union’s regulation on plants produced by a process called New Genomic Techniques. ASTA called the legislation a positive step that will help create a more predictable global environment for breeders and seed companies.
CME sues regulator over ‘perps’: CME Group sued the top U.S. derivatives regulator Thursday in a bid to prevent Kalshi, a prediction-markets platform, from encroaching on its turf as the nation’s leading futures exchange, the Wall Street Journal reported. The suit comes after the Commodity Futures Trading Commission approved Kalshi’s plan to list perpetual futures contracts – popularly known as “perps” – that never expire and trade 24/7. According to the report, the suit, filed in federal court in Washington, D.C., alleges that the CFTC violated U.S. law by classifying Kalshi’s perps as futures and not swaps. In doing so, the CFTC decision allows Kalshi to sidestep rules intended to protect the economy from the “special dangers that unregulated swaps posed,” lawyers for the exchange operator wrote.