The Commodity Kitchen with David Maloni
Twice a month, David Maloni serves up a fast, focused look at the world of commodities—covering everything from major food ingredients to energy and beyond. With over 30 years of experience advising some of the world’s largest commodity buyers, he brings unmatched insight and practical perspective to the table.
Each episode delivers a market update, the key news and trends he is watching, and insights from occasional guest experts in the food supply chain—all in under 15 minutes.
The Commodity Kitchen with David Maloni
2026 Market Reset
Welcome to The Commodity Kitchen Podcast, and happy New Year. In this episode, 2026 Market Reset, I walked through what’s setting the tone for markets as we head into the new year. Grain markets are generally rangebound with some firmness in soybean meal, and soybean oil is still up about 9% year over year due in part to biofuel demand. In dairy, cheese blocks are steady while butter is down 7.9% on the month, marking some of the lowest non-COVID prices of the last decade and creating real contracting opportunities. Crude was a little firmer, while diesel and gasoline prices continue to edge lower.
On proteins, eggs have been hit hard—down 61% over the last month—while chicken output is up 4.3% year over year, keeping markets in check. Pork output is up short term but expected to be fairly tepid for the year, and beef production is down 5.2% with trim firming and the rib complex unusually weak. I also flagged the potential Supreme Court ruling on Trump-era tariffs and China’s new 55% tariff on beef once quotas are filled, both of which could add confusion and tighten imported lean beef supplies in the U.S. as we move further into 2026.
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David Maloni’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidmaloni/
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