Mark's Market Talk for October 27, 2026

Here we are in the last week of October and for a lot of our customers harvest is either finished or nearing completion. It used to be that you hoped to be done by Thanksgiving, and now you push to be done by Halloween. Earlier planting, faster dry down, and bigger equipment all contribute to harvest speed. Dry weather has also helped as there have been very few rain days this fall. Politics are having a larger effect on the markets than harvest progress. This is the week President Trump is supposed to meet with the Chinese President to discuss trade. Last week November beans gained 22 cents as traders seemed optimistic that China will buy some beans. However, should they buy, it may not be a large amount as they have sourced late season beans from South America and new crop bean harvest in Brazil may start in late January. So, the window of opportunity for US beans may be a very short time frame. Domestic crush margins have improved and basis levels at some processors have improved as they try to free some beans from storage. This has narrowed the carry into next year some. December corn was a penny higher last week. It feels like the trade wants to push December corn through the 4.32 resistance, but it falters every time it gets close. We all love to hate government reports, but traders are missing that piece of the puzzle right now and they are concerned that once the reports do start back up it might work against us. One of the reports we are missing is the daily export sales. Private sources are trying to fill the gap, and it appears we are still selling a lot of corn. Mexico continues to be a big buyer as they are feeding all the cattle, they would normally ship to us to finish. They are still battling the screw worms, so our border may stay closed to their feeder cattle for some time. Political news is also messing with the cattle market as President Trump is concerned about the high cost of beef, so he is proposing to lessen the tariffs on Argentina beef coming into the US. This is a kick in the pants to our beef producers and has rattled the cattle futures market. Beef prices are high right now, but the demand for US fed cattle is still very good. If the government wants to help increase the supply of beef, they need to help the US producers grow their herds and keep the money in our country.