Mark's Market Talk for April 13, 2026

Last week brought mixed results in the grain markets. Corn ended the week down 11 cents while beans were 12 cents higher. Corn and wheat have both taken a hit in the past couple of weeks. The funds have built a large amount of long corn positions and now they act like they do not want to defend their position. The Iranian war gave corn some optimism as crude oil moved higher. Now with the war possibly slowing down, crude prices have stabilized some and the trade seems to think corn is now not as valuable.

Corn exports remain strong, but the South American corn crop will become available this summer and it appears to be a large one. 2026 corn acres are still somewhat unknown. The March report showed a 3.5-million-acre switch to beans. However late spring anhydrous demand has surprised the industry just a bit. Had the warm dry weather continued last week corn acres may have increased more than the report stated. Now with some much-needed rain we will have to see what gets planted on some of the acres.

The strength in the bean market is harder to explain. Sales to the Chinese remain unknown and there are plenty of beans in the world. The RFS rules give us some hope that bean oil will be a valuable fuel ingredient. Like normal the results of government mandates are slow to happen. If crude oil remains high, it will lend support for more bio fuel. President Trump doesn’t want high price gas heading into mid term elections so expect some rabbits may be pulled from a hat in the near future.