CORN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Corn futures finished the session higher as a strong move in gasoline and crude oil prices pushed spill over strength into the corn market. July corn added 2 ¼ cents to 477 ¾, while dec futures added 2 cents to 497 ¾.
• Technically, December futures posted their highest daily close since May 2024 but failed to break the key psychological $5.00 level, with likely producer selling limiting further upside.
• Ethanol production for the week ending April 24 fell to 297 million gallons for the week, down from 306 million gallons last week and 3% below last year. This was the lowest weekly production in the past 3 months. Only 99 MB of corn was used last week for ethanol production, trending below the pace needed to reach the USDA target for the marketing year.
• USDA will release the weekly export inspections report on Thursday morning. For the week ending April 23, expectations for export sales are to range from 1.0 MMT to 1.9 MMT. Last week’s sales totaled 1.316 MMT and an additional 440,000 MT for 2026-27 crop.
• Most of the corn belt will be moving into a cooler, but drier weather forecast into early May. The drier weather pattern should allow some planting progress to resume in wetter areas, keeping planting of both corn and soybeans ahead of schedule.

SOYBEAN HIGHLIGHTS:

• Soybeans closed higher, supported by a sharp rally in soybean oil that followed a surge in crude oil. June crude oil is up $6.86 to $106.84 a barrel following news that President Trump reportedly told aids to prepare for an ongoing blockade of Iranian ships to and from their ports.
• May soybeans gained 9-1/4 cents to 1182-1/4, July gained 7-3/4 cents to $11.97 and will soon become the front month, and November gained 4-1/4 cents to 1171-1/4. May soybean meal lost $5.40 to $328.0 while May soybean oil made up for those losses with a gain of 1.93 cents to 75.31 cents, a new contract high. Soybeans remain in a very tight range with July between 1170 as support and 1200 as resistance.
• The U.S. is importing more used cooking oil from China as elevated energy prices and biofuel demand increase feedstock needs. Two cargoes totaling 339,000 barrels arrived last month.
• The Brazilian soybean price advantage that it has held over US soybean prices has narrowed recently making US soybeans more competitive on the global market. The current spread of 50 cents a bushel on an FOB basis is lower than the 5-year average for this time of year.

WHEAT HIGHLIGHTS:

• Wheat took a breather today and closed in mixed fashion. With the US Dollar surging higher today and wheat futures deep into overbought territory, the market may be seeing the start of a technical correction. In the May contract, Chicago lost 6-3/4 cents to 642-1/4, Kansas City declined 6-1/2 cents to 690-1/4, and MIAX gained 4-1/4 cents to 701-3/4.
• The US ag attaché is forecasting Canadian 26/27 wheat production at 36.2 mmt due to a decline in acreage and yields falling back to normal. If realized, this would be down about 10% from a year ago. The attaché is also estimating the Australian crop will decline 19% to 29 mmt – concerns about the impact of El Nino could result in further declines.
• Managed funds are estimated to have purchased around 12,500 contracts of Chicago wheat yesterday, contributing to the price surge. If accurate, this would mean that they have likely flipped their net position for SRW wheat back to the long side after yesterday’s trade.
• Adverse weather continues to threaten the HRW wheat crop with drought persisting in the U.S. southwestern Plains. And while coverage looks low for western Kansas, the second week of the outlook call for two or more inches of rain the central and southern plains.

DAIRY HIGHLIGHTS:

• Class III milk closed today’s session lower across all contracts; June fell 57 cents to close at $17.69.
• Spot cheese fell 1.125 cents to close lower at $1.62250/lb. Spot whey remained unchanged at $0.7075/lb.
• Class IV milk followed powder lower closing down across all contracts, June was down 58 cents at $21.60.
• Spot butter fell 4.50 cents to close lower at $1.650/lb. Spot powder fell 0.75 cents to close at $2.2575/lb.

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Author

John Heinberg