DTN Closing Grain Comments    03/02 13:46
   After Firm Start, Row-Crop Futures Sink on War-Driven Uncertainty

   It should come as no shock headlines were dominated Monday with potential
market implications to the spreading conflict in the Middle East which began
over the weekend as the U.S. and Israel struck Iran and, in the process, killed
Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and other leadership personnel. President
Trump warned on Monday the operation could last a month if not longer, leaving
investors and traders with simply more questions than answers at this point
regarding the impact on energy trade in particular. The U.S. dollar surged
higher on investor flight to safety, pressuring ag commodities as a result,
particularly wheat which broke away from a recently strong tie to oil futures.
Crude oil futures gapped higher to levels not seen since the first U.S. strike
against Iran back in June of 2025. Normally, firm energy markets would be a
reason to expect spillover bullishness in U.S. row crops, but the high degree
of anxiety over several unknowns (notably how U.S.-China relations will hold
up) was too much for prices to overcome.

Rhett Montgomery
DTN Lead Analyst

GENERAL COMMENTS:

   May corn closed down 2 3/4 cents and July corn was down 1 3/4 cents. May
soybeans closed down 6 3/4 cents and July soybeans were down 5 3/4 cents. May
KC wheat closed down 5 3/4 cents, May Chicago wheat was down 14 1/4 cents, May
MIAX Minneapolis wheat was down 2 3/4 cents.