As spring planting approaches, farmers are busy planning which crops to seed this year and how much. With that, market thoughts have turned toward planted area projections, as Statistics Canada is set to issue its report on Thursday.
Argentina is expected to reap 48 million tonnes of soybeans in 2025/26, the United States Department of Agriculture attaché in Buenos Aires said in a report released on Feb. 25. That’s slightly lower than the USDA’s official estimate of 48.50 million tonnes.
SOYBEAN futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were narrowly mixed at the Wednesday’s close, holding near three-month highs. WHEAT futures corrected higher amid ideas recent losses were overdone. CORN futures were up in sympathy with wheat, with positioning ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Ag Outlook Forum a feature.
Look for trading of soybeans, corn and wheat at the Chicago Board of Trade remain sideways for the balance of January, perhaps longer, said Ryan Ettner, broker with Allendale Inc. in McHenry, Ill.
Prior to the January supply and demand report being released by the United States Department of Agriculture, its attachés in Argentina and Brazil issued their respective reports on oilseed production for 2025/26.
Tom Lilja, an analyst from Progressive Ag in Fargo, N.D., expects corn and soybeans yields to be trimmed ahead of the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s monthly supply/demand estimates release on Jan. 12, 2026.
Although there’s a debate over the size of the South American soybean crop, there’s little doubt that it will be an enormous one, said consultant Michael Cordonnier of Soybean and Corn Advisor in Hinsdale, Ill.
The USDA is forecasting tighter U.S. corn ending stocks for 2025/26 due to increased exports. The supply/demand balance sheets for soybeans and wheat were unchanged.
A sharp drop in the sunflower seed crop in 2025 combined with the introduction of export duties on oilseeds will lead to a surge in domestic processing of rapeseed and soybeans, the volume of which may exceed exports, said an analyst.