TFM Morning Update 03-02-2026

CORN

Corn futures are slightly higher to start the day but retreated from overnight highs that were likely tied to higher crude oil and military strike on Iran. May corn is unchanged at $4.48-1/2 while December corn is up 2 cents to $4.71-1/2.
On Friday, the USDA reported a flash sale of corn to unknown destinations of 257,000 tons for the 25/26 marketing year. Corn has been supported by very strong export sales over the past few months.
Friday’s CFTC report saw funds as buyers of corn as of February 24. They bought back 13,548 contracts which reduced their net short position to 13,867 contracts. Significant fund money has been flowing into commodities over the past month.

Soybean futures are mixed to start the day with losses in the front months despite big gains in soybean oil. May soybeans are down 4-1/4 cents to $11.66-1/4 while November is up 1/4 cent to $11.29. May soybean meal is down $6.90 to $313.60 and soybean oil is up 1.68 cents to 63.53 cents as it follows the sharp move higher in crude oil.
Bloomberg estimates for the USDA’s soybean crush report see January crus at 226.4 million bushels which would be a 6.5% increase from a year ago at this time. Soybean oil reserves are seen at 2.417b lbs which would be up from 1.817b lbs.
Friday’s CFTC report saw funds as buyers of soybeans by 20,591 contracts which increased their net long position to 184,202 contracts, but they are estimated to be long over 200,000 contracts now. They bought 21,493 contracts of soybean oil and bought 33,457 contracts of meal.

Wheat is mixed to start the day with Chicago down 1 cent to $5.90-1/2, KC wheat up 5-1.4 cents to $5.85-3/4, and Minn wheat up 2 cents to $6.14-3/4. Some support may be coming from lost yield in Ukraine from extreme frost.
Over the weekend, both the US and Israel conducted military strikes on Iran which prompted Iran to retaliate by striking US bases and other areas like the UAE. This has caused oil prices to spike higher, and wheat tends to follow moves in crude oil.
Friday’s CFTC report saw funds as buyers of Chicago wheat by 50,740 contracts which decreased their net short position to 17,27 contracts. They bought 14,813 contracts of KC wheat leaving them net long 4,204 contracts.

Amanda Brill