In observance of Good Friday, there will not be any opening or closing Market Commentary on March 29, 2024. 


Weekly Market Wrap-Up

Grain Market Commentary

Friday, May 17, 2019

by Paul Matthews, Account Representative, The Andersons

The week started on a continued negative note with soybeans moving into 11-year lows based on Friday’s fallout from US/China trade talks ending with no resolution.  Trump raised tariffs on $200 billion to 25% and then threatens an additional $325 billion in Chinese goods to 25% as well.  China retaliated while raising tariffs to 25% on $60 billion in US goods.

Monday however saw a key reversal in the July corn and wheat contract trading during the day with a lower value than Friday’s close with both contracts closing higher than the previous session.

The remainder of the week’s positivity was the result of US crop progress reported on Monday showing corn planted at 30% overall against a five year average of 66%.  Soybeans were reported at 9% overall against a 29% five year average.  Winter wheat conditions remained unchanged overall with a 64% good to excellent rating (the excellent category was increased by 3% week over week).

The US weather forecast is showing some areas of heavy precipitation in the 7-day outlook, anticipating spots in the western corn belt receiving between 3”—7” of rainfall.  The trade will watch very closely any and all rainfalls and how that connects to loss of corn acres and prevent plant acres moving forward.


July corn opened the week at $3.51 and closed at $3.83. A 32-cent increase. Corn rebounded relatively quickly on Monday despite tariff news and gapped higher on Tuesday with crop progress being only 30% vs a trade expectation of 35%.  Informa released their predictions that included reductions of just over 2 million acres, which may be a conservative number if planting conditions do not improve.

The Andersons Weekly Market Wrap Up May 17, 2019 Corn


July soybeans opened at $8.05 and closed at $8.21. A 16-cent increase. Soybeans realized new contract lows due to the tariff increase, these levels are the lowest in over 11 months.  Soybeans also moved higher on Tuesday based on crop progress coming in at only 9% planted against a trade expectation of 15%.  NOPA crush released Wednesday slipped to just under 160 million bushels which was below trade expectations.

The Andersons Weekly Market Wrap Up May 17, 2019 Soybeans


July wheat opened the week at $4.25 and closed at $4.65. A 40-cent increase.  Wheat values moved higher Monday with a key reversal and followed through Tuesday, sympathetic to corn and soybeans.

The Andersons Weekly Market Wrap Up May 17, 2019 Wheat


The Andersons Weekly Market Wrap Up May 17, 2019 Soybean Planting Dates

The Andersons Weekly Market Wrap Up May 17, 2019 Corn Planting Dates