May 15, 2026

Mid-Co Morning Comments:
 

• Grain markets are lower again this morning with soybeans leading the way, down double digits. December ’26 corn is off around a nickel and hovering near its 50-day moving average, now nearly 20 cents below Wednesday’s highs. Corn spreads are weaker as CN/CU has widened back out to -7. Crude oil is another $3/barrel higher this morning, trading north of $104/barrel.
• President Trump and his group of CEOs have departed China, but from an agricultural standpoint there were no major deliverables or confirmed purchase announcements. Funds appear to be unwinding positions on the lack of fresh buying news. It feels like the market had built in expectations for a headline soybean or grain deal, and when that failed to materialize, the air came out of the rally.
• Basis was mostly quiet yesterday with only a handful of changes reported. Bartlett in Jacksonville, IL improved their nearby corn bid to +5N, putting them roughly 15 cents under St. Louis values and likely keeping more corn local. Illinois River values remain around 8–9 cents below delivery equivalent for July.
• Weather forecasts across the Corn Belt continue to lean favorable for the early growing season. I had around three-tenths of rain in the gauge here in town this morning, and another round of precipitation is expected sometime this weekend.
• Today’s COT report will be released this afternoon, though it will not include the last three trading sessions. Private estimates currently peg funds as long roughly 350k contracts of corn and around 213k contracts of soybeans.