Sunday 20 September 2026 · Michelle & Jessica · Matcha bar · SoHo · 20 s
Michelle & Jessica · Matcha bar · SoHo · salt 84 wearing AloSugar up 16%, soybeans 25%, wheat 41%. Brazil's coffee is flowering and the weather is fine. Matcha isn't on the tape yet.
The soft commodities have had a year. Soybeans settled at $13.04 a bushel on the CBOT on 18 September, up 25% from $10.46 on 2 January, after China bought a million tons of US soybeans ahead of Xi's visit to the US on 10 September. Wheat is $7.14 a bushel, up 41%; corn $5.28, up 21%. The sugar fund CANE is up 16% this year and hit its high on 10 September as India returned to imports. The tape's agriculture layer watches the growing regions with NASA weather data: Brazil's Minas Gerais arabica belt is in its flowering window with rain at 1.95 times normal over the last 30 days and no heat or frost stress; Colombia's coffee axis and the Ivorian and Ghanaian cocoa belts read benign. Michelle joins Jessica for the first time.
in plain EnglishCommodities are the raw stuff: the beans, the grain, the sugar that ends up in your breakfast. This year they have got dearer. Soybeans are up a quarter, helped by China buying a million tons from American farmers this month; wheat, which becomes your bagel, is up 41%; sugar is up 16%. Coffee's price is not on the tape, but the tape watches the weather over the farms that grow it: Brazil's main coffee region is flowering right now with plenty of rain and no heat, which is good news for next year's beans. Matcha, the green tea powder the shop sells, is not on the tape at all yet. Michelle, new to the channel, is not impressed by the hour.
Reported Sunday 20 September 2026 · every number dated to its source, latest 20 September 2026
1 · evidence every number, with its source and its date
$13.04 a bushel · CBOT front month · +25% from $10.46 on 2 Jan
Soybeans
CBOT settlements on the AirPort tape (ZSX6) · 2026-09-18
"China purchases 1 million tons of U.S. soybeans ahead of Xi's visit to the U.S." · SETN
China
live news wire on the tape, 10 Sept 12:45 UTC · 2026-09-10
$7.14 a bushel · +41% from $5.07 on 2 Jan
Wheat
CBOT settlements on the AirPort tape (ZWZ6) · 2026-09-18
$5.28 a bushel · +21% from $4.38 on 2 Jan
Corn
CBOT settlements on the AirPort tape (ZCZ6) · 2026-09-18
$11.06 · +16% this year · high $11.81 on 10 Sept
Sugar (CANE fund)
regular-session closes · the AirPort tape · 2026-09-18
"Sugar prices surge amid gas crisis, India return to imports" · The Daily Star
Why sugar
live news wire on the tape, 23 Aug · 2026-08-23
Minas Gerais arabica belt in its flowering window · rain 1.95× normal over 30 days · no drought, 2 heat days, no frost · verdict benign
Coffee · Brazil
agriculture layer on the AirPort tape (NASA POWER), 20 Sept · 2026-09-20
coffee axis · rain 2.03× normal · benign
Coffee · Colombia
agriculture layer on the AirPort tape, 20 Sept · 2026-09-20
Ivorian and Ghanaian belts benign into the main crop · Hershey: cocoa costs had surged over 120% in six months, now falling
Cocoa
agriculture layer on the tape; news on the tape (The Motley Fool), 30 Aug and 1 Sept · 2026-09-20
SOYB +27% · WEAT +29% · CORN +12% · DBA (farm basket) +10% this year
Soybean and wheat funds
regular-session closes · the AirPort tape · 2026-09-18
not on the tape · no price layer yet
Matcha
the AirPort catalogue · 2026-09-20
Soybeans (SOYB)+26.9% since 2026-01-02
open $21.82 2026-01-02now $27.70 2026-09-18from the high -1.6%179 trading days · regular-session closes from the AirPort tape
Wheat (WEAT)+29.4% since 2026-01-02
open $20.00 2026-01-02now $25.87 2026-09-18from the high -7.7%179 trading days · regular-session closes from the AirPort tape
Sugar (CANE)+15.6% since 2026-01-02
open $9.57 2026-01-02now $11.06 2026-09-18from the high -6.4%179 trading days · regular-session closes from the AirPort tape
2 · relations who this touches
3 · history · 4 · analogues · 5 · ask Pro
AirPort has been watching this since before it was news. The trail, the last times this shape happened, and Ask, scoped to this story.GO DEEPER
more like this same subject first, then the same presenter, then the rest of the day
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Amodei, Altman and Musk call for a slowdown. The chips take it.
Tuesday 15 September 2026 · Jessica · Downtown · New York
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The new iPhones: the 18 Pro, and the first folding iPhone at over $2,000. Apple's stock rose 3.5% the day after. The chip inside is TSMC's.
Saturday 19 September 2026 · Jessica · Fifth Avenue · New York
The Grain of Salt: one email every Saturday, everything the tape saw, and a salt meter on every section.
Saturday 19 September 2026 · Jessica · Upstate · New York