Wheat again leads overnight losses, with soybeans only having losses of a penny.

Grain futures opened softer Sunday night and, after a short period of consolidation, continued to move lower overnight, led by wheat. First notice day for the March contracts is this Friday, along with the USDA's Annual Outlook Form on Thursday with their acreage and trend line production guesses. A wet weather forecast for Argentina is also conducive to improving conditions, but soybean futures experienced only minor losses of a few pennies.

Late Friday, the Trump administration applied new port fees on Chinese-made vessels, which can amount to $1 million per entry, along with investment bans. Also, the USTR memo called China a “foreign anniversary” and said the US needed to protect key assets like technology, food supplies, farmland, minerals, and natural resources, including ports and shipping terminals.

As reported by Reuters news, British Petroleum is expected to announce Wednesday that it will ditch renewable energy and return future investment to fossil fuels. They stated this would include wind and other renewables without being specific. For the most part, it focused on wind energy and was the first large petroleum company to push away from renewables and focus primarily on carbon-based products.

Soybean losses overnight were limited to a penny or two, as the case has been that Sunday night losses have turned into Monday gains. Even though soybean oil was lower last night while meal gained, it’s possible that Canada will be hit with tariffs come March 5, which will price canola oil out of the US market and favor soybean oil which can then lift soybeans, which is partially why index funds are probably buying into the bean trade. The South American harvest is in full swing, and supplies are arriving to ports.

South American forecasts have brought rain, and Argentina will be wet for the next two weeks as 4-9.00″ of rainfall is expected. There is a daily chance of Argentine rain, with the total forecast to become heavy. Currently, there is no issue with flooding, but those concerns could rise in March if the wet pattern persists.

Friday’s Cattle on Feed report was deemed neutral to slightly friendly, prompting a firm start today. Last week, weakness in beef prices and futures weighed on negotiated fed cattle trade, with live sales in the north off $3 at $200, while the dressed trade was $5 lower at $315. Meanwhile, the South trade was off $4 at $199. Last week’s trade has now reflected giving up $8-10 on the cash trade over the last four weeks.

Box beef values were also lower with choice off $4 and select lower by $5. Seasonally, the beef market tends to forge a low in the last part of February into the opening of March and then rally into late May. Fed cattle supplies are below year ago, but the large weights contribute to the annualized gain in beef production. Later this year, fed cattle carcass gains will diminish as, unlike that, those weights can be used to extend US beef supplies in the last half of 2025 like were done in 2024. Cattle, beef prices, and feeder cattle have been under pressure, and it’s probable that lows were struck late last week. Technical action needs to be confirmed with April cattle closing back above 197 while April feeders need to close above 171.60.