This is the SFN Market Report with Brooks Schaffer of Palmetto Grain. Reach him at brooks@palmettograin.com or 843-540-4540.
We are coming down to the last few trading sessions of 2025 without much action in the row crop markets. Corn and soybeans found a little strength last Friday to end the Christmas week. March corn traded back over 4.50, which we had not seen since the beginning of December. Soybeans erased last week’s losses on Friday, then gave it all back Monday to start the week of New Year’s. This week will most likely see lower volume, too, as we have a holiday-shortened week. The market will close at the normal time on New Year’s Eve, 2:20 p.m. Eastern, and will not open for the overnight session or trade at all on Jan. 1, New Year’s Day. The grains will open back at 9:3
0 a.m. Eastern on Friday.
Not only are we seeing low volume from holiday trade, but there is also just not much new to talk about. The weather is still decent in Brazil. There is some heat forecast, and rain totals are trending lower in southern Brazil, but it is not enough of a threat yet to get the market excited. China keeps buying soybeans at a steady pace, but it’s not enough to get the market excited as the funds continue to sell their long positions. We had a soybean sale to Egypt announced on Monday, which was welcome, but it was not able to slow the selling in the market. First notice day is Wednesday, Dec. 31, for January soybean futures. If you have basis contracts or hedges vs. the January, they will have to be priced or rolled this week. First notice day can also sometimes bring some volatility to the market.
Wheat is pricing in more progress toward peace in Ukraine after the weekend meeting between Trump and Zelenskyy. But we have heard this before and seen significant setbacks. Look for more range-bound trading in corn and soybeans. The market is watching weather in South America and waiting on the all-important Jan. 12 USDA report. There will be a lot of new data for the market to digest and trade on in that report. We will get final U.S. crop size estimates and stocks data.