Sugar
- According to cash traders, bulk sugar offers for 2025-26 remained steady for both beet and cane sugar over the last week, with minimal new crop bookings
- According to the USDA’s Prospective Plantings report released on March 31, U.S. farmers intend to plant 1,063,000 acres of sugar beets in 2026, down 16,000 acres, or 1.5%, from 1,079,000 acres in 2025. If realized, it would be the lowest sugar beet-planted area since 1969
- Traders continue to monitor domestic acreage plans for the 2026 sugar beet crop, given sharply higher input costs over the past several weeks, according to analysts
Dry Beans
- Domestic dry bean end users have recently completed their Q3 coverage needs, according to this week’s updates from cash dealers
- According to the USDA’s Prospective Plantings Report released on March 31, dry bean acreage is estimated to decline by 10% for the 2026 crop year to 1.24 million acres, in order to reduce oversupply
- The last round of USDA-posted weekly cash offers was 13%-15% lower than last year’s levels for the spot position delivered to the warehouse for most dry bean varieties
Rice
- U.S. cash dealers report that domestic bookings of milled and industrial rice are currently complete through Q3
- According to the USDA’s Prospective Plantings Report released on March 31, planted area for rice is estimated to be 2.319 million acres in 2026, falling 18% year-over-year due to lower demand, with a 22% drop in long grain, a 3% dip in medium grain, and a 14% fall in short grain
- Spot rough rice futures are up approximately 17% since the beginning of March
Flour
- The wheat markets were steady this week
- Weekly state crop condition updates from the USDA mostly showed further deterioration compared to last week on the back of recent dry weather conditions, as Kansas wheat was rated 40% good-to-excellent, compared to 46% last week. April is the critical month for winter wheat crop moisture needs, according to analysts
- According to the latest data from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, approximately 57% of the U.S. winter wheat growing area is currently under some form of drought, compared to 37% at this time last year
- According to the USDA’s Prospective Plantings Report released on March 31, U.S. farmers intend to plant 32.410 million acres of winter wheat in 2026/2027, down from 33.153 million last year, while all-wheat stocks as of March 1 were estimated to be 1.300 billion bushels, compared to 1.237 billion last year at this time