By Adam Whittaker and Kirk Maltais
A roundup of key agricultural commodity markets for the week Sept. 22-26 by Dow Jones Newswires in Barcelona.
GRAINS & OILSEEDS: The macro mood is muted after the Federal Reserve's rate cut last week, with the next notable indicator being new inflation data on Friday and more importantly fresh job data on Oct. 3, which is expected to be weak.
The Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell signalled a cautious "meeting-by-meeting" approach to additional interest rate cuts. Traders will be looking at Friday's personal consumption expenditure price index from the U.S., which is expected to show cooling inflation and reinforce the case for further cuts, MUFG's Soojin Kim said. Additional cuts would likely push the dollar lower and lift agricultural prices.
Traders were disappointed at the end of last week after a talks between President Trump and President Xi failed to deliver concrete soybean purchasing commitments from China. U.S. Soybeans are cheap and will compete with crops from South America if China reenters the U.S. market, Peak Trading Research said.
Friday's Commitment of Traders report from the U.S. Commodity Futures Trading Commission showed that U.S. fund traders turned net long on soybean futures through the week ended Sep. 16. They remain net short in corn and wheat, although in both cases the CFTC reported a shrinking margin.
On the weather front, U.S. forecasts remain warm, with some storm systems heading for the Southern Corn Belt. It was a dry season and rain now would only delay harvest, according to Peak Trading Research. The Department of Agriculture will release its next update on U.S. harvesting progress this afternoon.
Chicago wheat futures are down 2.63% at $5.09 a bushel on Monday, while corn is down 1.18% to $4.19 a bushel. Soybean prices slide 1.76% lower to $10.07 a bushel.
SOFT COMMODITIES: Robusta coffee prices have risen the most over the month of September, trading up just over 14% at Friday's close. On Monday, coffee trades down 0.78% to $3.64 a pound. Sugar is down 0.87% to $0.16 a pound.
Coffee futures on the Intercontinental Exchange last week closed in on the all-time record-high that was set in February. The rally was fuelled by difficulties introduced from the 50% tariffs on Brazilian exports set by the U.S. in August, as well as weather issues hitting Brazilian arabica crops. But most-active futures have since pared back gains from that rally, with traders unable to push prices past record territory, said Dave Toth of StoneX Group.
Write to Adam Whittaker at adam.whittaker@wsj.com and Kirk Maltais at kirk.maltais@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
September 22, 2025 11:25 ET (15:25 GMT)
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