May 21, 2026 Noon Market Update

It’s been a week in the grain trade, and despite the selling we have seen on Wednesday and on Tuesday later in the session, ironically we’re still steady on the week for corn with last week, and we’re higher on the week for wheat and soybeans, and of course part of that movement is what crude oil is up to, and the crude oil market is back above $100 a barrel today, as the Iranians, as we go into a three-day weekend, look like they’re going to be difficult and not come to an agreement, which means President Trump has typically done military actions over the weekend, and we’re closed on Monday. So, the grain trade is seeing a subsiding of the selling that we’ve seen over the past few days, and it’s now focusing on what happens here on the bio side now, weather wise, the corn, soybeans are getting planted, moisture is showing up throughout the Midwest as needed, including North Dakota, the northern plains, and so that’s a negative factor on pricing. But for right now, we focus back on the biofuel valuations of grain, and that’s corn and soybeans, finding interest of recovering on prices week. On a side note, cattle futures limit down $9.25 cent limit through the January contracts, and live cattle sharply lowered to near limit down, as well as Mexico looks to be increasing its exports of beef into the US. Since we have not been receiving their feeder cattle, typically then raised and slaughtered in the US, they’ve been keeping them down there, and now their beef plants are aggressively moving, and sent they’re going to send beef in the US. And here’s a catch: they do not have country of origin labeling, and so Brazilian beef is also flowing into their country. And we could be seeing Brazilian beef tariff-free coming through Mexico. That’s putting a negative spin to the cattle trade today. For more information, go to HeartlandInvest.com