Good morning.
Holiday week at the CBOT started in the green this morning, with all three of the corn, bean and wheat markets, as well as the product markets, seeing higher trade to get Monday morning started. Corn futures are 2-3 cents higher, soybean futures are 3-6 cents higher, and the Chicago wheat market is 5-6 cents higher.
Friday afternoon’s monthly Cattle on Feed report from the USDA for December showed the US feedlot herd as of December 1 at 11.727 mil head, which was 98% of a year ago and near trade expectations. Placements in November were down 11% from last year at 1.595 mil head, while marketings in the month were down 12% from last year at 1.521 mil head.
USDA will release quarterly hogs and pigs data tomorrow on Tuesday, and traders see this report showing the Dec 1 hog inventory in the US down about 1% from last year at 74.357 mil head, with breeding hogs seen down 1.2% at 5.934 mil head and market hogs down 0.9% at 68.440 mil head. The Sep-Nov pig crop is seen falling just over 1% from last year to 34.43 mil head.
The latest round of CFTC commitment of traders data, with figures for the week ending December 9th, showed managed money traders in the week were sellers of 13,552 contracts of corn (+9,718), sellers of 35,088 contracts of soybeans (+180,338), and sellers of 2,228 contracts of Chicago wheat (-46,069); in soy products, funds were sellers of 29,397 contracts of meal (+28,265) and sellers of 4,952 contracts of oil (-7,636). The next CFTC update is currently scheduled for Tuesday, December 23rd.
This morning’s weekly export sales report, with data for the week ending December 4th, is expected to show corn sales in the week between 1.2-2.4 MMTs, soybean sales between 800k-2.0 MMTs, and wheat sales between 300k-600k MTs. There will also be another round of export sales data tomorrow, with numbers for the week ending December 11th, due to President Trump’s announcement last week that Wednesday and Friday would also both be federal holidays.
Despite vessels being en route, location-specific customs data out of China for the month of November showed the country once again took zero soybeans from the US for what would be a third straight month, while shipments from Brazil were up 49% from the year prior at 5.85 MMTs, and shipments from Argentina were up a whopping 634% from the same month last year at 1.78 MMTs. Cumulative imports from those two countries in the first 11 months of 2025 stand at 76.7 MMTs and 6.24 MMTs respectively.
Ongoing increases in geopolitical tensions around the world have energy and metals markets higher this morning coming out of the weekend, with gold and silver futures having touched new all-time highs overnight and the crude oil market another dollar/bbl higher on a further ratcheting of tensions surrounding Trump’s blockade on Venezuela’s tanker fleet.
Weather for the Midwest ahead of the holiday this week will be a bit of a two-parter, as areas in the western part of the region will be on the direr side, while areas in the east see light/scattered precipitation potential the first part of the week before a more defined system works through the Great Lakes region and more northern part of the Midwest Thursday night into Friday. Temperatures, meanwhile, look to stay on the warmer side of average for most all of the Midwest and broader mid-section of the US into at least the weekend, before cooling a bit again into next week.
Weekend rains were mostly as expected across the central and northern parts of Argentina and look to keep expanding further north into southern Brazil through the first part of the week this week. Rains also look to continue falling through western and northwestern Brazil this week, though areas to the east and then also back into southern Argentina will be on the drier side again. Extended forecasts have rains showing back up for southeastern Brazil after the first of the year, but our confidence in the extended run is not great.
Have a great day.
Grain Comments: 12-22-2025
Good morning.
Holiday week at the CBOT started in the green this morning, with all three of the corn, bean and wheat markets, as well as the product markets, seeing higher trade to get Monday morning started. Corn futures are 2-3 cents higher, soybean futures are 3-6 cents higher, and the Chicago wheat market is 5-6 cents higher.
Friday afternoon’s monthly Cattle on Feed report from the USDA for December showed the US feedlot herd as of December 1 at 11.727 mil head, which was 98% of a year ago and near trade expectations. Placements in November were down 11% from last year at 1.595 mil head, while marketings in the month were down 12% from last year at 1.521 mil head.
USDA will release quarterly hogs and pigs data tomorrow on Tuesday, and traders see this report showing the Dec 1 hog inventory in the US down about 1% from last year at 74.357 mil head, with breeding hogs seen down 1.2% at 5.934 mil head and market hogs down 0.9% at 68.440 mil head. The Sep-Nov pig crop is seen falling just over 1% from last year to 34.43 mil head.
The latest round of CFTC commitment of traders data, with figures for the week ending December 9th, showed managed money traders in the week were sellers of 13,552 contracts of corn (+9,718), sellers of 35,088 contracts of soybeans (+180,338), and sellers of 2,228 contracts of Chicago wheat (-46,069); in soy products, funds were sellers of 29,397 contracts of meal (+28,265) and sellers of 4,952 contracts of oil (-7,636). The next CFTC update is currently scheduled for Tuesday, December 23rd.
This morning’s weekly export sales report, with data for the week ending December 4th, is expected to show corn sales in the week between 1.2-2.4 MMTs, soybean sales between 800k-2.0 MMTs, and wheat sales between 300k-600k MTs. There will also be another round of export sales data tomorrow, with numbers for the week ending December 11th, due to President Trump’s announcement last week that Wednesday and Friday would also both be federal holidays.
Despite vessels being en route, location-specific customs data out of China for the month of November showed the country once again took zero soybeans from the US for what would be a third straight month, while shipments from Brazil were up 49% from the year prior at 5.85 MMTs, and shipments from Argentina were up a whopping 634% from the same month last year at 1.78 MMTs. Cumulative imports from those two countries in the first 11 months of 2025 stand at 76.7 MMTs and 6.24 MMTs respectively.
Ongoing increases in geopolitical tensions around the world have energy and metals markets higher this morning coming out of the weekend, with gold and silver futures having touched new all-time highs overnight and the crude oil market another dollar/bbl higher on a further ratcheting of tensions surrounding Trump’s blockade on Venezuela’s tanker fleet.
Weather for the Midwest ahead of the holiday this week will be a bit of a two-parter, as areas in the western part of the region will be on the direr side, while areas in the east see light/scattered precipitation potential the first part of the week before a more defined system works through the Great Lakes region and more northern part of the Midwest Thursday night into Friday. Temperatures, meanwhile, look to stay on the warmer side of average for most all of the Midwest and broader mid-section of the US into at least the weekend, before cooling a bit again into next week.
Weekend rains were mostly as expected across the central and northern parts of Argentina and look to keep expanding further north into southern Brazil through the first part of the week this week. Rains also look to continue falling through western and northwestern Brazil this week, though areas to the east and then also back into southern Argentina will be on the drier side again. Extended forecasts have rains showing back up for southeastern Brazil after the first of the year, but our confidence in the extended run is not great.
Have a great day.
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