North Gower Grains

Thursday, February 12, 2026, 6:55 am

Wednesday was a mostly positive day for our markets.  Spot corn closed down 1 1/4, spot soybeans closed up 1 1/2, spot winter wheat closed up 9 and spot spring wheat closed up 2.  In the overnight trade all of our markets are currently on the positive side.  Oil closed up $0.67 yesterday at $64.63 per barrel.  It is weaker in trading this morning with it now valued at $64.53 per barrel.  Our dollar started out yesterday morning at $0.740 US and then went down to $0.734 US before noon.  It has come back up some since then with it currently valued this morning at $0.737 US.

Wheat prices led out markets higher yesterday with a small rally after starting the trading day on the negative side.  No big reason for the rally yesterday.  It mostly looks like traders were just adjusting their positions and the market moved in a positive manner.  The WASDE report on Tuesday actually slightly increased US wheat carryout stocks which should be negative for prices.  Also on the negative for this market I saw a report this morning that the consensus is that the majority of the winter wheat crops in the US and the Black Sea growing region should have minimal winter kill issues this year with mostly adequate snow cover.  As I write this I have to remind myself that what seems like numerous times every winter there will be reports of winter damage in these areas.  The marketplace always needs something to talk about and winter damage is an easy subject to come up with every change in the weather.

Ethanol production rebounded back up in the US last week after pulling back hard the previous week due to a widespread winter storm.  Production last week came in at 1.11 million barrels per day which is an all-time high for February in the US.

Soybean prices in Brazil are currently roughly $1 per bushel lower then prices in the US.  This of course shows that China can make much more economical purchases of soybeans from Brazil then from the US.  As it has been reported many times any increased purchases at this time would have to be a political decision and not an economic decision.  It was reported in China yesterday that they are looking at extending the current good trading relationship with the US for another year.  Hard for me to see how the current relationship is strong but it is what it is and the politicians will spin it out however they think will be most positive for their position.  How this affects our markets is something that we all have to sit back and watch.