Russian Grain Markets: 23 -27 January 2023 Russian domestic grain markets remained stable and slightly bearish. The feature of the week was feed barley equaling feed wheat in price. Corn slightly depreciated under pressure from Ukraine which has been exporting massive amounts of the commodity from the Black Sea on a duty-free basis versus Russia having an export duty which keeps growing. The record crop allows traders to basically dictate the prices as offers are abundant and there is always willingness to negotiate from the farmer’s side. Export dynamics are slower than anticipated which may play against the Russian farmer as cashflow is important and will be even more so for the spring planting campaign. However, inex...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.
What You Need to Know Today: Markets got a surprise with a corn yield of 181.2 bushels/acre in the October WASDE, above the average estimate of 177.6 bushels/acre and up from USDA’s September estimate of 178.5 bushels/acre. Although stronger demand is expected to absorb some of the addit...
The USDA has lowered its 2026 red meat production forecasts slightly while forecasting a slight increase in broiler production. Beef is now projected at 24.802 billion pounds, 75 million pounds less than in September. Cow slaughter is expected to be up; however, this will be offset by lower ste...