Price data, forecasts, insights and events for commodity markets

US wheat futures and Euronext contracts were mixed on Tuesday June 16, with most US contracts moving lower, while Chicago soft red winter wheat futures posted gains. Euronext contracts also moved higher during the session. Global cash markets remained subdued, with limited activity as buyers largely stayed on the sidelines. Black Sea wheat prices are starting to trend lower under seasonal harvest pressure, while Australia, Europe and Argentina were broadly steady.

Soybean and soybean meal futures continued to ride on the coattails of the bullish National Oilseed Processors Association (NOPA) crush report on Tuesday June 16, with market chatter that China is bidding on — or indeed may have already bought — US beans for February, giving much-lauded impetus to further increases in futures markets over the period.

US trade union United Auto Workers and the Dauch Corporation, formerly known as American Axle, reached a tentative agreement on Wednesday June 10 that could restore the loss in demand for automotive steel resulting from a workers’ strike.

Ford’s launch of Ford Energy reflects a clear strategic reset rather than simple diversification. The company is responding to a widening gap between earlier EV assumptions and current market reality, where demand growth has slowed, subsidy support has become less reliable, and large-scale battery investments are now underutilized.

China’s tightening regulation of its lithium-ion battery recycling sector is increasing black mass flows and accelerating the release of lower-cost recycled cobalt units, Fastmarkets understands.

Fastmarkets has corrected its MB-STE-0192 steel wire rod (low carbon) industrial quality, fob mill US, $/cwt price, which was published incorrectly on June 16 due to a typographical error.