By: NATHAN STUEDLE
GRAINS:
July corn closed up 6 cents and December corn was up 2 1/2 cents. July soybeans closed up 27 1/2 cents and November soybeans were up 27 1/2 cents. July KC wheat closed up 18 cents, July Chicago wheat was up 17 1/4 cents, July Minneapolis wheat was up 13 1/2 cents.
FOR THE WEEK:
July corn closed up 2 cents and December corn was down 6 1/4 cents. July soybeans closed up 12 1/2 cents and November soybeans were up 17 3/4 cents. July KC wheat closed down 8 1/2 cents, July Chicago wheat was down 11 cents, July Minneapolis wheat was down 1 cent.
Despite it being Friday the 13th, good fortune came to ag markets to close the week as the EPA at long last rolled out their proposed renewable volume obligations (RVO) after months of speculation and rumors which had created quite the roller coaster out of the soybean oil market. The proposed blending and RIN requirements for 2026 and 2027 came in above the industry recommendations from earlier in 2025. On the news, soybean oil futures launched to the daily limit, with soybean futures swiftly pulled along for the ride. Meanwhile, wheat futures posted a strong price correction following a sluggish week for winter varieties. In outside markets, crude oil futures have officially recovered the losses stemming from the initial reciprocal tariff announcements on April 2, with the July NYMEX contract trading to the highest price of 2025 thus far before prices fell well off their daily highs later Friday following reports that Iran's oil infrastructure was not harmed in Israel's attack on Thursday. Stock indices were under pressure for the majority of Friday's trading session, while gold futures are pressing higher and back toward all-time highs amid the geopolitical unease.
LIVESTOCK:
Traders couldn't seem to hold it together anymore as the live cattle complex broke lower. Most of the nearby live cattle contracts traded $2.00 to $3.00 lower at best, as traders seemed to be growing more and more concerned that the futures complex is overbought and that it's time for a correction. From a sheerly fundamental standpoint, this move is frustrating as this past week boxed beef prices have traded robustly, and the fed cash cattle market has again traded steady to $5.00 higher which is no small feat given that these are historical all-time high price points we are talking about. Nevertheless, we have to remember that traders won't have to be concerned about the market's fundamentals and that logic isn't always the sounding board for all decisions made. And while some more clean-up trade could develop, it looks like the bulk of this week's trade is mostly done with in the country side. So far this week Southern live cattle traded at mostly $235, which is $4.00 to $5.00 higher than last week's weighted average. Northern dressed cattle have traded at mostly $380, which is steady with last week's weighted average.
The feeder cattle complex did not fair any better than the live cattle market as it's been closely watching the live cattle sector as it's been following in its shadow here lately. Yes, demand in the countryside is still incredibly strong, but the board doesn't seem to be concerned with fundamental matters currently.
The lean hog complex continued to rally in at least its nearby contracts while some of the deferred months were traded slightly lower. Helping keep traders encouraged more than anything is the continued support of pork demand as again today the carcass price was just shy of being $3.00 higher.
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