Corn, wheat, and soybean futures finished mostly lower on Wednesday as the markets awaited US President Donald Trump’s tariff announcement.
The markets struck a cautious tone amid fears that Trump’s tariffs could upset traditional trade flows and spark retaliatory levies from US trade partners that might target American agricultural exports. The tariff announcement was expected at 4 pm ET, after the markets closed for the day, with the levies due to take effect immediately.
In addition to tariffs, corn felt pressure from needed rainfall in the Midwest. The downpours are stopping U.S. corn seeding dead and will likely keep farmers out of the fields through much of next week, Marex said in a market report. Next week looks mostly dry, but cold. May corn lost 4 cents to $4.57 ¾, and December was down ¾ of a cent at $4.48 ¾.
Soybeans could feel the impact of any trade disruption more keenly, given that up to 40% of American production is typically exported each year. Soybeans are the most heavily exported US agricultural commodity. May beans fell 4 ¾ cents to $10.29 ½, and November dipped 2 cents to $10.37 ¼.
Chicago and Minneapolis wheat sagged on the tariff uncertainty, but Kansas City managed a small gain on continued concerns about dry weather for the winter wheat crop in the US southern Plains. May Chicago dipped 1 ¼ cents to $5.39 ¼, May Kansas City added 3 ¼ cents to $5.68 ½, and May Minneapolis eased 1 ½ cents to $5.92 ½.
