Corn and beans break lower; crude tops $101 on tight supply
By Sigurd Lindquist, CCA · Published
Corn settled Friday at $4.74¼, down 3¾ cents, and beans closed at $12.61¼, off 1¾ cents, both pressured by harvest supply all week. Crude gained 3.5% to $101.41 after the IEA pushed emergency stock releases and the US offered another 17 million barrels from the reserve.
Only on AGSIST
On Friday, Oct 16, 1,494 of the 1,527 elevators AGSIST reads posted a lower cash corn bid than Thursday, 25 a higher one; 132 changed their basis, 57 weaker and 75 stronger.
8 unchanged; median change 5¢ lower. Biggest state move: Iowa, 5¢ lower (306 elevators). 3 outliers left out.
On Friday, Oct 16, 1,270 of the 1,328 elevators AGSIST reads posted a lower cash soybean bid than Thursday, 49 a higher one; 174 changed their basis, 114 weaker and 60 stronger.
9 unchanged; median change 2¢ lower. Biggest state move: Iowa, 2¢ lower (269 elevators).
Corn basis on Oct 17 ran from 55¢ over December futures in Texas to 80¢ under in North Dakota and South Dakota, state medians of the elevators AGSIST reads.
Elevators behind each median: Texas 17, North Dakota 37, South Dakota 89. 15 states with 15 or more.
Counted by code from the elevator boards AGSIST reads itself, not by the writer of this briefing. A day's change is each board's last posted bid against its own on the trading day before, same delivery period. Quote it with the date and a link to agsist.com/daily/2026-10-17. How this briefing is made · Monthly: AGSIST Cash Bid Index
Corn harvest price so far: $4.91 vs $4.62 projected (+6.3%), 12 of 22 trading days in.
Soybeans harvest price so far: $12.83 vs $11.09 projected (+15.7%), 12 of 22 trading days in.
Ours: the average of the daily CBOT settles through Oct 16, figured the way USDA RMA does. RMA posts corn at $4.92 and soybeans at $12.85, both through Oct 15. Window and projected price: USDA RMA, as of Oct 16. Oct 1-31 window, most states. Harvest price tracker →
- Corn settled at $4.74¼, down 3¾ cents, the third straight lower close as harvest supply keeps weighing on the board.
- Beans held closer to flat at $12.61¼, down just 1¾ cents, with China back in the market booking its first cargoes since the Trump-Xi summit.
- Live cattle closed at $227.55, up 0.7%, and feeders held near flat at $343.625.
- Packing plant closures are tightening where feeders can be sold, with some finishers now hauling cattle farther to find a bid.
- Hogs added half a percent to $66.925, a quiet close after a quiet week.
- WTI crude traded at $101.41, up 3.5%, after the IEA accelerated emergency releases and the US offered another 17 million barrels from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve.
- Equatorial Guinea's output has broke down 85% since 2020, a small cut that still tightens the global barrel count.
- Monday, Oct 19, 3:00 p.m. CTCrop Progress report; watch harvest pace against the five-year average as basis sits at seasonal lows.
- OngoingCorn back above $4.80 would say harvest pressure is easing; a close under $4.70 says it is not.
- Thursday, Oct 22, 7:30 a.m. CTExport sales; another confirmed China soybean buy would help beans hold $12.60.