Mark's Market Talk for July 13, 2026

It is always better to deliver good news when it comes to grain market movement. Last week, we started and ended the week higher, with a few losing days in the middle. Overall, it was a solid week for both corn and soybean prices.

Last Monday, corn was up 12 cents or more, while soybeans gained nearly 50 cents. During the three-day weekend, the 8-to-16-day forecast turned hotter and drier, and everybody wanted on the train. By Monday night, however, that same forecast shifted to milder and wetter conditions, and the market gave back most of Monday's gains.

On Friday, USDA released its July WASDE report. It was not a major market mover, but it was friendly for both corn and soybeans, and both markets finished the week with solid gains. Here are some of the highlights.

USDA lowered old-crop corn ending stocks by 125 million bushels. They left planted acreage at 95.3 million acres and maintained the national yield at 183 bushels per acre. When everything was said and done, new-crop carryout declined by 170 million bushels to 1.79 billion bushels.

Getting carryout below 2 billion bushels is a positive development and should help keep local corn prices above $4.00. It is probably not enough on its own to push prices to $5.00, but we still have plenty of summer weather ahead. Weather will continue to be the biggest factor over the next several weeks.

The report was mostly neutral for soybeans, which provided some relief for those expecting a bearish report. The bottom line is that soybean carryout remained at 310 million bushels. That is not an especially bullish number, but any production problems could tighten supplies in a hurry.

By the end of the week, December corn had gained 20 cents and November soybeans were up 43 cents. That is not a bad performance for the middle of July. Hopefully, we can continue to build on those gains in the weeks ahead.