Corn and soybean futures fell on Wednesday amid rising trade tensions, while wheat ended mixed.
Both Canada and the EU announced retaliatory tariffs today after US President Donald Trump’s increased levies on all U.S. steel and aluminum imports took effect. For Canada, this round of retaliatory tariffs on nearly $30 billion in US goods is separate from the initial one implemented following Trump’s threat to impose a 25% tariff on nearly all imports from Canada. That tariff threat has now been delayed until April.
Corn was further undermined by Tuesday’s USDA supply-demand update, which left 2024-25 US corn ending stocks unchanged from last month versus trade expectations for a revision lower. May corn fell 9 ½ cents to $4.60 ¾, and December was down 6 ¼ cents at $4.48 ¼.
The advancing soybean harvest in Brazil, along with increased global exports from the South American country further pressured soybeans. May lost 10 ¾ cents to $10.00 ½, and November was down 9 cents at $10.06 ½.
Chicago and Minneapolis wheat closed weaker on the day, with only Kansas City a bit higher as forecasts for the winter wheat crop on the southern Plains look mostly dry for the next week to 10 days. Canadian wheat acreage is expected to be up 2.6% from last year in 2025 at 27.475 million acres, according to Stats Canada planting intentions data from this morning. Much of the increase is estimated from spring wheat, seen at 19.42 million acres, up 2.5%, with durum steady at 6.36 million acres. May Chicago wheat dipped 2 ¾ cents to $5.54, May Kansas City was up 1 cent at $5.73 and May Minneapolis was down 2 ¾ cents at $5.94 ½.
