Macroeconomics

1. [US Core PCE Price Index] The US core Personal Consumption Expenditures (PCE) price index rose 0.2% month-on-month in July, matching the forecast and up from the previous 0.1%. Year-on-year, the US core PCE rose 3.3%, in line with both the forecast and the previous reading.

2. [South Korea Interest Rates] The Bank of Korea raised its benchmark interest rate from 2.75% to 3.00%, marking a rate hike for the second consecutive meeting, in line with market expectations.

Agricultural Products

1. [Soybeans] The Crop Progress report released by the USDA shows that the "good-to-excellent" rating for US soybeans declined by 1% for the third consecutive week, marking the lowest rating for this period since 2023. As of August 23, the pod-setting rate for soybeans in 18 major US producing states (accounting for 96% of the national planted area) was 91%—up from 85% a week earlier and exceeding both the previous year's figure and the five-year average of 88%. The leaf-dropping rate was 6%, compared to 4% for both the previous year and the five-year average. The "good-to-excellent" rating stood at 60%, down from 61% a week earlier and 69% a year ago; the "poor-to-very-poor" rating was 12%, up from 10% a week earlier and 8% a year ago.

2. [Soybeans] Data released by Brazil's Secretariat of Foreign Trade (SECEX) shows that the pace of Brazilian soybean exports during the first three weeks of August exceeded that of the same period last year. From August 1 to 21, Brazil's soybean export volume totaled 6.88 million tonnes.

3. [Soybeans] Ukraine's Ministry of Agriculture reported that, as of August 25, Ukrainian farmers had harvested 6.76 million hectares of grains and legumes, representing 58% of the planned area. The harvested output reached 31.73 million tonnes, with an average yield of 4.7 tonnes/hectare. 4. [Sugar] Mexico’s 2025/26 crushing season has concluded; cumulative national sugar production reached 5.30 million tonnes (up 11.6% year-on-year), and cumulative sugarcane crushing totaled approximately 49.60 million tonnes (up 8.4% year-on-year).

5. [Rapeseed] The August supply and demand report released by Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada projects Canadian rapeseed production for the 2026/27 marketing year at 21.60 million tonnes; this is higher than the previous month's forecast of 21.00 million tonnes but lower than the 21.81 million tonnes produced in the prior year.

6. [Palm Oil] According to AmSpec, an independent Malaysian inspection agency, Malaysia's palm oil exports from August 1 to 25 totaled 1,008,211 tonnes, an 11.4% decrease from the 1,137,581 tonnes exported during the same period the previous month.

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