April 13, 2026

Mid-Co Morning Comments:

• Corn and wheat are higher this morning while soybeans trade mixed to start the new week.  Geopolitics continue to rule the headlines.  Both Brent and WTI crude prices have surpassed $100/barrel as the U.S. Navy prepares to block ships to and ‌from Iran via the Strait of Hormuz after Washington and Tehran failed to reach a deal to end the war. Brent crude is up some 40% since the conflict started.  In a rare acknowledgement of the potential political fallout from his decision to attack Iran Sunday, Pres Trump’s admitted gas prices may stay elevated through the Nov midterm elections or rise even more.  On the grain front, Friday’s COT reports showed in the week ending April 7th, managed money traders were sellers of corn, soybeans, and wheat.  They sold 49,342 contracts of corn (+218,632), 23,776 contracts of beans (+189,630), and 14,276 contracts of Chi wheat (-5,633).  China was a fairly quiet buyer of Brazilian beans late LW, w/limited activity in Mar/Apr on Friday. Export traders believe decent Chinese crush margins will have them stepping in at some point for more J/J supplies.  China remains absent from the U.S. soybean market while Egypt was reportedly a buyer of U.S beans LW. CIF beans continued to move higher Friday, w/the offer side of the ledger reportedly lacking. The firmness was being mostly attributed to the strength in barge freight.  April CIF values are now in the lower +90’s K and May in the mid +90’s K.  June is in the upper +70’s N, and July is in the low +80’s N.  CIF corn remains firm on our strong export program and slow farmer selling. April traded +94K, and May traded +92K on Friday. J/J is said to be worth +80N or slightly higher. CIF corn offers are thin but there are more in comparison to beans. There was notably more FOB PNW corn tender and private business last week for J/J, which pushed track and FOB corn values higher. Afloat and April SRW values continued to leak lower late LW, w/bids difficult to ascertain. The afloat market had been trading in the +70’s K depending on location and quality.  Front month river corn and bean basis firmed LW.  Crusher soybean basis also showed improvement week-over-week as did several corn processor locations. SE rail corn was also stronger. Producer selling was quiet, overall, last week. Wet weather in portions of the Midwest is likely to start getting more attention, w/talk of planting delays. Updated U.S. planting progress will be out this afternoon. Weather maps point to the Midwest seeing scattered showers throughout the week, w/a potential cold front moving in next weekend. 
   
  Other headlines this morning:
  * Today is day 4 (of 5) of the Goldman Roll
  * Conab will release their Brazilian production updates tomorrow- Tues, Apr 14th
  * DOW: trading down over 480 points
  * U.S. dollar is trading firmer
  * Nearby crude oil is trading over $7.50/barrel higher near $104
  * Friday’s Core CPI Y/Y: 2.6%, up from 2.5% in Feb & lower than forecasts
  * Canada Unemployment Rate: 6.7%, unch. from LM & below forecasts
  * China PPI: 0.5%, up from -0.9% in Feb & slightly above forecasts
  * Japan PPI: 2.6%, up from 2.0% in Feb & above forecasts
  * Trump admin reportedly weighing crackdown on Chinese telecom carriers’ operations in U.S.
  * There have been numerous reports of China sending arms to Iran
  * Israel escalated its air and ground campaign ‌in Lebanon
  * Global policymakers meet in Washington to assess the geopolitical impasse
  * Russia & Ukraine accused each other of breaching the 32-hour ceasefire in their 4-yr war
  * The IMF and World Bank’s spring meetings are set to begin in Washington
  * BAGE: est. 22% of the Argentine corn crop has been harvested / Calling the corn crop 57 MMT’s
  * Some 80% of Argy beans are in good to excellent condition
  * Brazil shipped 4.24 MMT of beans in the week ending Apr 10th, up 2.17 MMT from the prev week
       -There were no Arby bean exports
  *  Total Brazilian soy export commitments are 45.16 MMT, up 2.33 MMT from YA 
  * India's March palm oil imports fall 19% to 3-mo low
  * China sitting on higher levels of corn at ports due to weak feed demand/ substitute grain supplies
  * Meatpacker JBS reaches tentative agreement with striking Colorado workers