European market

The blocking of Russian and Ukrainian ports in the Black Sea remains the topic of every day on the grain market as its impact can be major. It was joined yesterday by the upward surge in crude oil. Brent crude is back to test $110 a barrel in London, at the highest since the 15th of last month. The fightings are intensifying between Saudi Arabia and the Houthi rebels in Yemen. After the takeover of the port city of Mocha, the latter are advancing towards the strategic Bab el-Mandeb Strait which conditions the flows through the Red Sea.
As the United States commemorates the 25th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks this Friday, geopolitical tensions are at the heart of the news.
The new surge in crude oil is accompanied by a renewed interest in the dollar as a safe haven. The euro/dollar is down and back to 1.1600 against 1.1650 previously.
While the operators are hesitant about the situation in the Black Sea, divided between proactive diplomatic speeches and daily attacks on Russian and Ukrainian infrastructure, grain prices yesterday found some reasons for a rebound in the wake of crude oil and the relapse of the euro/dollar.
In France, the hot and dry weather leads to a rapid finalization of the sunflower harvests, to a very early start of the corn harvests, but also to great difficulties regarding the emergence of rapeseed sown late this year.

American market

The market is eagerly awaiting for the September USDA report, out at 18:00 (Paris time) today. It is the corn that will concentrate all the attention with many uncertainties as to the areas and the yield of this 2026 harvest in the United States. Estimated at 180.7 bu/acre in August by the USDA, the yield of US corn is expected to decline by consensus.
Despite the ambient wait-and-see, prices benefited yesterday, for all products, from a renewed buying interest on the part of funds and this in the wake of the new upward acceleration in crude oil.
Soybeans in particular marked a new contract high on November 2026 at $13.3350/bu thanks to new purchases from China. The USDA announced yesterday the exceptional sale of 272,000 t of US soybeans to China and 206,500 t to unknown destinations. While President Xi Jinping is expected in the United States at the end of the month, Chinese purchases are intensifying as a token of goodwill within the framework of trade agreements signed in November 2025.

Black Sea market

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