Corn adds 2.5% on the crop-tour rally, KC wheat jumps 4.9%, and gold eases off its highs as grains post their best day in weeks.
Wednesday, August 26, 2026.
A grain-complex fireworks show: all three U.S. wheat boards and oats jumped 4 to 6 percent on a Black Sea supply shock, corn and beans extended their own rallies, and gold and silver took a breather while WTI drifted.
The Board
Grains & Oilseeds
🌽 Corn · Dec: 536.50 · +13.00 · +2.48% 🟢⬆️
🫘 Beans · Nov: 1266.00 · +28.25 · +2.28% 🟢⬆️
🥣 Meal · Dec: 339.30 · +10.10 · +3.07% 🟢⬆️
🧴 Oil · Dec: 67.74 · −0.04 · −0.06% 🔴⬇️
🌾 SRW · Dec: 748.25 · +45.00 · +6.40% 🟢⬆️
🌾 HRW · Dec: 808.75 · +38.00 · +4.93% 🟢⬆️
🌾 HRS · Dec: 748.00 · +28.00 · +3.89% 🟢⬆️
🌰 Oats · Dec: 361.00 · +17.75 · +5.17% 🟢⬆️
Prairie Crops
🌱 Canola · Nov: C$798.30 · +C$8.60 · +1.09% 🟢⬆️
🐮 Barley · cash †: C$284s/tonne delivered S. Alberta · steady ➖
Energy
🛢️ WTI · Oct: 82.23† · −0.13 · −0.16% 🔴⬇️
🔥 NatGas · Oct: 2.874 · +0.053 · +1.88% 🟢⬆️
Metals
🥇 Gold · Dec: 4,653.30 · −41.20 · −0.88% 🔴⬇️
🥈 Silver · Sep: 68.026 · −0.656 · −0.96% 🔴⬇️
The Read
🌽 Corn: 536.50, +13.00 (+2.48%) 🟢⬆️
The Pro Farmer Crop Tour's 173.2 bu/acre national yield read, well under USDA's 180.7 bu/acre, is now working through the market for a third straight session.
December corn has added more than 20 cents since Friday's tour release and sits at its highest level since 2023.
So what: a shrinking U.S. crop is a real ration-cost and new-crop-basis story, not a one-day headline.
Watch: whether USDA's September 11 WASDE moves toward the tour's lower number.
🫘 Soybeans: 1266.00, +28.25 (+2.28%) 🟢⬆️
Beans extended Tuesday's bounce as Chinese buying kept absorbing Pro Farmer's forecast of a record 4.572-billion-bushel U.S. crop.
The corn rally is also pulling beans higher on general grain-complex strength.
So what: demand is doing the heavy lifting against a bearish yield number, a split that can reverse fast if bookings slow.
Watch: Thursday's export sales report for whether the China pace holds.
🥣 Soybean Meal: 339.30, +10.10 (+3.07%) 🟢⬆️
Meal, not oil, carried the crush today, tracking corn and beans higher rather than trading on its own protein-demand news.
Livestock feeders are watching ration costs climb alongside the broader grain move.
So what: a meal-led crush day like this one pushes feed costs up faster than it moves biofuel economics.
Watch: hog and cattle feeding margins for any pullback in protein demand.
🧴 Soybean Oil: 67.74, −0.04 (−0.06%) 🔴⬇️
The lone flat spot in the soy complex, biofuel-policy uncertainty is capping oil even as its meal and bean cousins rally.
That's a break from oil's usual tight leash to the rest of the complex.
So what: the crush math today is a meal story, not an oil one.
Watch: any EPA signal on the finalized 2026-27 biofuel blending mandate.
🌾 SRW Wheat (Chicago): 748.25, +45.00 (+6.40%) 🟢⬆️
The board's biggest mover: all three grain terminals at Russia's Novorossiysk port have been shut since Ukraine's August 12 drone strike, and terminal operator NKHP now says repairs could take up to four months.
Consultancy SovEcon expects Russian wheat exports this month to land at just 3.0 to 3.4 million tonnes, well below the five-year August average of 5 million.
So what: a prolonged outage at Russia's main wheat gateway is a genuine global supply hit, not a one-day scare.
Watch: any sign the Novorossiysk terminals reopen faster than that four-month estimate.
🌾 HRW Wheat (Kansas City): 808.75, +38.00 (+4.93%) 🟢⬆️
Rode the same Black Sea headlines as Chicago, with the HRW-SRW spread holding roughly steady as both boards firmed together.
Plains wheat gets more competitive on export desks as the global benchmark rises.
So what: protein wheat exporters get a tailwind from someone else's supply problem.
Watch: weekly export sales pace against the run of Russian outages.