No New Readings, Protein Tie at 71% of Soybean Meal Holds

No new USDA AMS feedstuffs readings have been published since the previous issue. Sunflower meal and feather meal share the cheapest-protein slot, both at 71 percent of soybean meal's cost per pound of crude protein on a dry-matter basis, with sunflower meal at $0.266 per pound of CP and feather meal at $0.269 per pound. Soybean meal, the benchmark, is at $358 per ton FOB.

• Hominy feed leads the energy board at $0.076 per pound of TDN, 67 percent of corn's cost per pound on a dry-matter basis.
• Soybean hulls are second on energy at $0.101 per pound of TDN, 90 percent of corn.
• Rice bran is third at $0.110 per pound of TDN, 97 percent of corn.
• DDGS is at about $175 per ton. It prices energy at 98 percent of corn's cost per pound of TDN and protein at 88 percent of soybean meal's cost per pound of CP.
• Corn benchmarks at about $174 per ton, plant input cost.

Per USDA ERS's Aug 14 Feed Outlook, 2026/27 corn ending stocks are projected at 42 million MT, down 3.5 million MT from July on larger export forecasts for 2025/26 and 2026/27. Per USDA ERS's Aug 14 Oil Crops Outlook, the 2026/27 soybean production forecast is raised to a record 4.52 billion bushels, with the crush forecast at 2.78 billion bushels and ending stocks at 320 million bushels. Both reads are already embedded in the current benchmarks.

September marks the start of the harvest window. New-crop corn and soybean arrivals typically pressure the grain benchmarks and pull feedstuff prices with them.

Data note: 37 series have not updated in over two weeks, including alfalfa pellets and almond hulls. Any figure from those series should be treated as stale.