Week Ending 9-19-2026

Corn struggled to maintain positive trade last week as traders monitor harvest reports and position ahead of the upcoming Trump/Xi summit. December corn ended the week 3 cents lower while March and May ended the week 4 and 5 cents lower respectively. The funds closed the week long 393,460 corn and 229,001 soybean contracts.

Early yield reports coming out of the Midwest are variable, which isn’t creating confidence in a bigger crop. Historically early yield reports often come from the lower-yielding ground due to any number of issues that may have brought the crop to early maturity. Harvest has slowed in the western corn belt due to heavy rains. The Midwest will see active rains over the next several days but nothing that will affect the yield at this stage.

President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping’s expected Sept. 24 summit in Washington is shaping up around reciprocal tariff reductions and an extension of the trade truce. China’s Commerce Ministry has confirmed negotiations on tariff relief covering $30 billion of goods from each country. For U.S. agriculture, the implications extend beyond another purchase announcement as lower Chinese duties could make American commodities more competitive with Brazilian supplies and create a pathway for Chinese commercial firms to re-enter the U.S. ag market.

Harvest progress remained slightly ahead of the five-year average at 8% completed last week. Expect things to be slower in the next two weeks as rain hampered progress across most of the mid-west.

While early yield reports are coming in all over the place, most of them are below last year’s records. This could add support to the markets long term if demand remains strong. Harvest pressure should keep things in check over the next 30-45 days. As I stated last week, there is a gap in the charts at $5.09 in the December contract that remains intact. I don’t know how quickly it will happen, but I do expect to fill the gap before coming back to current or higher levels.

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