Global Ag News For June 20.2025

TOP HEADLINES

Iraq to Halve Flour Imports as New Milling Factory Starts

Iraqi Prime Minister Mohammed Shia Al-Sudani inaugurated a milling factory in the country’s southern province of Babel that will produce 1m tons of flour per year, the prime minister’s office said in a statement.

• The flour production from the Etihad Food Industries plant will cover half of the local market need, curbing imports equivalent to $750m/year
  • NOTE: Etihad is a food industries group based in Iraq known for its production of sugar, vegetable oil and flour
• Work on the factory started 11 months ago

 

FUTURES & WEATHER

Wheat prices overnight are down 5 1/2 in SRW, down 4 1/2 in HRW, down 2 in HRS; Corn is up 1 3/4; Soybeans up 3 3/4; Soymeal down $1.30; Soyoil up 0.87.

For the week so far wheat prices are up 25 3/4 in SRW, up 27 in HRW, up 14 1/4 in HRS; Corn is up 2 3/4; Soybeans up 17 1/4; Soymeal down $6.20; Soyoil up 5.08.

For the month to date wheat prices are up 36 3/4 in SRW, up 35 in HRW, up 22 1/4 in HRS; Corn is up 7 1/4; Soybeans up 45 1/4; Soymeal down $11.70; Soyoil up 8.62.

Year-To-Date nearby futures are up 3.1% in SRW, up 1.4% in HRW, up 8.1% in HRS; Corn is down 5.5%; Soybeans up 8.0%; Soymeal down 7.9%; Soyoil up 39.8%.

Chinese Ag futures (SEP 25) Soybeans up 24 yuan; Soymeal up 7; Soyoil up 42; Palm oil up 16; Corn up 6 — Malaysian Palm is up 11.

Malaysian palm oil prices overnight were up 11 ringgit (+0.27%) at 4115.

There were no changes in registrations. Registration total: 193 SRW Wheat contracts; 0 Oats; 78 Corn; 242 Soybeans; 863 Soyoil; 823 Soymeal; 419 HRW Wheat.

Preliminary changes in futures Open Interest as of June 18 were: SRW Wheat down 6,138 contracts, HRW Wheat up 874, Corn down 10,155, Soybeans up 6,070, Soymeal down 5,026, Soyoil up 2,995.

 

DAILY WEATHER HEADLINES: 19 JUNE 2025

• NORTH AMERICA: Warm temperatures are expected across the U.S during the next 2 weeks
• SOUTH AMERICA: Argentina to stay cool and dry; Brazil warm with wet spells in the South and Center
• EUROPE: Europe to stay warm and dry, except wet in UK; Scandinavia cool and wet in 15-day outlook
• ASIA: Indian monsoon covers South, Central, and East India; favourable conditions persist for further advance. China warm and dry; flood risks limited to South and South-Central regions over next two weeks.

Midwest West: Isolated to scattered showers north Thursday-Friday. Mostly dry Saturday-Sunday. Temperatures near to above normal through Thursday, above normal Friday, well above normal Saturday-Sunday.

Midwest East: Isolated to scattered showers north Friday. Mostly dry Saturday-Sunday. Temperatures near to above normal through Thursday, above normal Friday, well above normal Saturday-Sunday. Outlook: Isolated to scattered showers Monday-Friday. Temperatures above to well above normal Monday-Tuesday, near to above normal Wednesday-Friday.

Central and Southern Plains: Forecast: Mostly dry Thursday-Saturday. Isolated to scattered showers Sunday. Temperatures above to well above normal Friday-Sunday. Outlook: Isolated to scattered showers Monday-Friday. Temperatures falling Monday, near to below normal west and above normal east Tuesday-Friday.

Northern Plains: Isolated to scattered showers through Sunday. Temperatures above normal Thursday-Saturday, falling Sunday. Outlook: Isolated to scattered showers Monday-Thursday. Mostly dry Friday. Temperatures below normal Monday-Wednesday, near normal Thursday-Friday.

 

The player sheet for 6/18 had funds: net buyers of 11,000 contracts of SRW wheat, buyers of 6,000 corn, buyers of 500 soybeans, and buyers of 1,000 soyoil.

TENDERS

• CORN TENDER: Algerian state agency ONAB has issued a new international tender to purchase up to 240,000 metric tons of animal feed corn sourced from optional origins.
• WHEAT TENDER: Jordan’s state grain buyer has issued an international tender to buy up to 120,000 metric tons of milling wheat that can be sourced from optional origins.
• NO PURCHASE IN BARLEY TENDER: Jordan’s state grain buyer is believed to have made no purchase in an international tender for 120,000 metric tons of animal feed barley which closed on Wednesday.

PENDING TENDERS

• BARLEY TENDER: Jordan’s state grains buyer has issued an international tender to purchase up to 120,000 metric tons of animal feed barley
• WHEAT TENDER: Bangladesh’s state grains buyer issued an international tender to purchase and import 50,000 tons of milling wheat.
• CORN TENDER: Algerian state agency ONAB has issued a new international tender to purchase up to 240,000 metric tons of animal feed corn. The new tender is regarded as indication that Algeria made no purchase in a previous tender for 240,000 tons of corn which closed on Tuesday.

 

 

 

 

TODAY

GRAIN EXPORT SURVEY: Corn, Soy, Wheat Sales Before USDA Report

Estimate ranges are based on a Bloomberg survey of three analysts; the USDA is scheduled to release its export sales report on Friday for week ending June 12.

• Corn est. range 650k – 1,400k tons, with avg of 963k
• Soybean est. range 150k – 500k tons, with avg of 313k

 

DOE: US Ethanol Stocks Rise 1.6% to 24.12M Bbl

According to the US Department of Energy’s weekly petroleum report.

• Analysts were expecting 23.957 mln bbl
• Plant production at 1.109m b/d, compared to survey avg of 1.106m

 

China’s May soybean imports from Brazil jump 37.5% y/y

China’s soybean imports from Brazil surged 37.5% in May from a year earlier, data showed on Friday, as buyers scooped up South America’s bumper crop, while supplies from the United States also rose 28.3%.

The world’s biggest soybean buyer imported 12.11 million metric tons of the oilseed from Brazil last month, compared with 8.81 million tons in the same month a year earlier, data from the General Administration of Customs showed.

May arrivals from the U.S. reached 1.63 million tons, up from 1.27 million tons a year earlier. U.S. supplies accounted for 11.7% of China’s total soybean imports last month.

China’s soybean imports for the month hit a record high of 13.92 million metric tons, more than double the volume imported in April, as customs clearance speeds returned to normal and the operating rate of crushing plants recovered.

Imports had plunged to a 10-year low of 6.08 million metric tons in April.

“The arrival of some previously delayed cargoes in May partially contributed to the higher import numbers,” said Liu Jinlu, an agricultural researcher at Guoyuan Futures.

For January-May, shipments from Brazil totalled 21.25 million tons, down 14.0% from the same period last year.

Total arrivals from the U.S. in the first five months of the year came to 14.57 million tons, up 34.3%, the data showed.

“China boosted U.S. soybean purchases ahead of potential China-U.S. trade tensions, and concentrated arrivals drove a Jan-May import increase. Harvest delays in Brazil pushed exports later, leading to a drop in Brazilian shipments,” said Wan Chengzhi, an analyst from Capital Jingdu Futures.

The country’s soybean arrivals are expected to remain high in the third quarter, while fourth-quarter imports will depend on the outcome of U.S.-China trade negotiations, Wan added.

China imported 111,603 tons of soybeans from Argentina in the five-month period, down 47.5% from the same period last year, though the data showed no arrivals in May.

 

Argentine corn yields exceed forecasts as harvest chugs along

Corn yields in some parts of Argentina are surpassing initial expectations for the 2024/25 crop, the Buenos Aires Grains Exchange said on Thursday, though it maintained its overall harvest forecast at 49 million metric tons as excessive moisture slowed fieldwork.

Many agricultural regions in Argentina, the world’s third-largest corn exporter, are still dealing with overly wet fields following heavy storms that caused flooding in May, delaying harvesting.

“Harvesting is progressing with grains above optimal moisture levels, seeking to avoid losses from stems bending or breaking. However, the yields obtained remain in line with or even exceed projections,” the exchange said in its weekly crop report.

The corn harvest advanced by only 2.9 percentage points over the past week, reaching just under 50% of the planted area nationwide, the exchange said.

For soybeans, the exchange noted that harvesting of the 2024/25 crop, estimated at 50.3 million metric tons, was 96.5% complete. Argentina is the world’s leading exporter of soybean oil and meal.

 

Argentine Soy, Corn, Wheat Estimates June 19: Exchange

The Buenos Aires Grain Exchange releases weekly report on website.

• Soy harvest advanced to 96.5% vs 93.2% last week
• 2025-26 wheat planting advanced to 60.3% vs 38.5% a week ago
• Good soil moisture is helping wheat plants in their earliest growth phase

 

Ukraine harvests first 34,800 tons of new grain crop, ministry says

Ukraine’s farmers have started the 2025 grain harvest, threshing the first 34,800 metric tons of early grains as of June 19, the farm ministry said on Friday.

Ukraine traditionally starts the harvest in the second part of June with barley and peas.

Farmers had harvested 33,900 tons of barley with the average yield of 2.49 metric tons per hectare, the ministry said in a statement.

Analyst APK-Inform said farmers had harvested 48,300 tons of grain from 17,200 hectares at the same date in 2024. The yield averaged 2.81 tons per hectare.

Ukrainian agriculture minister Vitaliy Koval said on Thursday three southern regions, Odesa, Kherson and Mykolaiv, had started the grain harvest.

Koval told Reuters this month that poor weather can cut Ukrainian grain harvest by 10% this year to around 51 million tons.

 

Russia’s wheat exports seen at 45 mln t in 2025-2026 season, farm minister says

Russia’s wheat exports for the 2025/26 season are seen at 45 million metric tons, Agriculture Minister Oksana Lut said in an interview with the Russian outlet Izvestia.

The wheat crop in 2025 is forecast at 90 million metric tons, she added.

 

US Plans Texas Facility to Stop Flesh-Eating Cattle Pest

• New World screwworm can kill a fully grown cow in 10 days
• USDA to release sterile worms in Mexico to curb spread

The US Department of Agriculture announced a plan to open an $8.5 million facility in South Texas to combat the spread of the New World screwworm, a flesh-eating bug that is deadly to cattle.

The facility, expected to be completed by year’s end, will release sterile screwworms in Northern Mexico to prevent it from spreading near the US border. The screwworm, which eats its host from the inside out and is capable of killing a full-grown steer in just 10 days, has prompted the US to halt imports of cattle from Mexico, aggravating a domestic shortage that has sent prices of slaughter-weight livestock to a record this year.

The facility could boost domestic sterile fly production by as much as 300 million flies per week, adding to supplies from Panama and Mexico. Other steps to prevent the pest from spreading into the US includes increased monitoring efforts and stronger cooperation with Mexican authorities, the USDA said. Last month, the USDA announced a $21 million investment to renovate an existing sterile fly production facility in Metapa, Mexico.

The USDA’s plan to eradicate the parasite is a “positive step that, in several ways, will strengthen joint Mexico-US efforts,” Mexico agriculture minister Julio Berdegué said in an X post on Wednesday.

 

Biofuel Groups Praise High Court Ruling on SRE Litigation Venues

Biofuel lobbying groups praised a Supreme Court decision saying that legal challenges to small refinery exemptions (SREs) under the Renewable Fuel Standard should be heard in a single court as opposed to multiple venues.

• The high court’s opinion that the US Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit is the appropriate forum is a victory for the biofuel industry and rural farm communities, the Renewable Fuels Association and Growth Energy said in a joint statement
• “Allowing 12 different circuit courts to adjudicate SREs would result in a fractured and inconsistent body of law, causing chaos and confusion in the marketplace,” the corn ethanol trade groups said
• Clean Fuels Alliance America said it seeks a solution for pending SRE petitions “that does not undermine current requirements and future growth in biomass-based diesel market space,” Kurt Kovarik, vice president of federal affairs, said in a statement
• NOTE: An EPA review of SRE petitions is clouding the outlook for biofuels after the agency’s proposal for robust 2026-27 biofuel-blending rules, Bloomberg Intelligence analyst Brett Gibbs said
  • “Exemptions for 2024-25 could delay a market recovery until later this year or early next,” Gibbs said

 

India Seeks to Amend Seeds and Pesticides Laws to Help Farmers

India is planning to amend the rules to prevent the sale of spurious seeds and pesticides to farmers, Farm Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan said on Wednesday.

• The government may amend the seeds law by the end of this year, followed by changes to the pesticides rules later, Chouhan told reporters in New Delhi
  • The changes in the seeds law will ensure accountability of those companies which sell products that are not certified by the government
  • There could be an increase in fines for any rule violation and issues related to the traceability of the seeds
• The federal authorities will fund expansion of testing laboratories for seeds, pesticides and fertilizers by the states
• Separately, the revival of monsoon rains after stalling for about three weeks will help crops, the minister said, adding that “there is no risk” to the monsoon-sown crops, such as rice and soybeans
  • The current favorable weather will boost planting

 

Indian rapeseed meal exports soar as China replaces Canadian supply

China is set to make record purchases of rapeseed meal from India following Beijing’s move to impose a 100% retaliatory tariff on Canadian imports, senior industry officials said.

India’s rapeseed meal exports will help China, the world’s top consumer, replace imports from Canada while easing pressure on local rapeseed prices in India where there are large stockpiles of the widely used animal feed.

“Indian rapeseed meal is very competitive compared to other origins. That’s why China has been increasing purchases since March,” B.V. Mehta, executive director of the Solvent Extractors’ Association of India, told Reuters.

India’s rapeseed meal exports to China are likely to jump to a record 500,000 metric tons in the 2025/26 marketing year which started in April, up from the last year’s 60,759 tons, Mehta said.

In the first two months of 2025/26, India exported 113,836 tons of rapeseed meal to China, which imposed a 100% retaliatory tariff on rapeseed meal and oil imports from Canada starting on March 20.

In 2024, China imported 2.02 million metric tons of rapeseed meal from Canada, 504,000 tons from the United Arab Emirates, and 135,000 tons from Russia, according to customs data. It bought 13,100 tons from India.

India, the world’s third-largest rapeseed producer, had struggled to export significant amounts of rapeseed meal to China because of higher prices in the past.

But now India is offering rapeseed meal at around $202 per ton on a free-on-board (FOB) basis compared to around $300 for supplies from the European Union, traders said.

“China has emerged as the biggest buyer of Indian rapeseed meal from nowhere. It is buying more than 50,000 tons every month,” said one of the leading exporters.

South Korea, Bangladesh, Thailand, and Vietnam traditionally account for the bulk of India’s rapeseed meal exports.

India badly needs edible oils to fulfill local demand amid lower imports in the past few months, said the exporter.

“Higher rapeseed crushing because of Chinese demand for meal is improving rapeseed oil supplies,” he said.

India, the world’s biggest importer of vegetable oils, buys palm oil mainly from Indonesia and Malaysia, while it imports soyoil and sunflower oil from Argentina, Brazil, Russia and Ukraine.

 

Cargill Buys Brazil Soy Crushing Plant in Growth Strategy

Cargill Inc. acquired a soy crushing, oil refining and bottling plant in the northeastern state of Bahia which the company had operated since 1998 through a lease contract, it said in a statement.

• Cargill has now full control of the plant
• Deal is in line with co.’s growth strategy and allows it to continue investing to supply both domestic and global soy meal market
• Cargill invested 8.1 billion reais ($1.5 billion) over past five years in Brazil

 

Brazil Says It’s Free of Bird Flu, Paving Way for Export Return

Brazil has declared itself free from bird flu after no new cases emerged in commercial farms since the first outbreak in May, paving the way for a return to international markets for the world’s largest chicken supplier.

The country, which accounts for more than one-third of the global export market, completed a 28-day period without additional cases in commercial flocks, Brazil’s agriculture ministry said Wednesday in a statement.

The ministry expects top importers to gradually resume purchases after widespread suspensions. A recognition from the World Organization for Animal Health is expected within few days after it revises all documents sent by the Brazilian government, industry group ABPA’s president Ricardo Santin said in an interview.

The detection of bird flu in a single commercial poultry farm in Brazil created ripple effects across the globe, cutting supplies to voracious consumers from China to Europe. As of Wednesday, more than 20 countries had suspended imports from all of Brazil, while some major clients including Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates implemented only partial bans.

The highly pathogenic avian influenza has caused the death of tens of millions of birds globally over the past few years. Commercial farms in Brazil had been insulated from impacts until the virus was discovered at a commercial flock in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul.

Brazil has benefited from global growth in chicken demand as consumers seek alternatives to pricey beef. That’s boosted profits for domestic companies such as BRF SA and JBS NV. Roughly two-thirds of the estimated growth in global chicken exports this year were anticipated to come from the South American country, according to US Department of Agriculture data.

The bird flu-free status should help Brazil in ongoing talks with importers to review sanitary agreements in order to reduce the area of imports suspension if a new case in commercial flocks is confirmed. That would be beneficial for both exporters and importers, who would avoid further increases in local chicken prices, ABPA’s Santin said.

 

LIVESTOCK: US Red Meat Production Fell 5.2% Y/y in May

Commercial beef and pork production fell to 4.38b pounds in May, according to the USDA’s monthly livestock slaughter report.

• Beef production down 8.7% y/y to 2.12b pounds
• May cattle slaughter totaled 2.45m head, a 10.7% decline from a year ago
  • Avg live weight rose by 27 pounds from last year to 1,422 pounds
• Pork production down 1.7% y/y to 2.24b pounds
• Hog slaughter fell 1.7% y/y to 10,397m head
  • Avg live weight was 289 pounds vs 290 pounds a year ago

 

US generated more ethanol, less biodiesel blending credits in May, EPA says

The U.S. generated more ethanol blending credits in May than in April, while biodiesel credit generation fell, data from the Environmental Protection Agency showed on Wednesday.

About 1.22 billion ethanol (D6) blending credits were generated in May, compared with about 1.16 billion in April, the data showed.

Credits generated from biodiesel (D4) blending fell to about 508 million in May from 592 million the month prior, the data showed.

The credits are used by oil refiners and importers to show compliance with EPA-mandated renewable blending quotas for petroleum-based fuels. They are generated with every gallon of biofuel produced.

 

India Cumulative Monsoon Rainfall 11% Below Normal as of June 18

India has so far received 71.5 millimeters of rains during the current monsoon season, which runs from June through September, compared with a normal of 80.6 millimeters, according to data published by the India Meteorological Department on June 18.

• The eastern and northeastern region got 28% below normal rains
• Rainfall in the southern peninsular region was at normal

 

US Miss. River Grain Shipments Rise, Barge Rates Increase: USDA

Barge shipments down the Mississippi river increased to 733k tons in the week ending June 14 from 726k tons the previous week, according to the USDA’s weekly grain transportation report.

• Barge shipments of corn fell 10% from the previous week
• Soybean shipments up 82.1% w/w
• St. Louis barge rates were $12.53 per short ton, an increase of $0.40 from the previous week

 

 

 

 

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