World Perspectives
livestock

Bye Bye Black Sheep

New Zealand famously is a country with more sheep than people, but the competition is slipping in favor of humans. The problem is the economics of wool, which is no longer an economically supportive coproduct. Wool is less needed in a warming world with many man-made alternative fibers, and landowners make more money converting grasslands to carbon credit paying forests.   Wool production in New Zealand and in the rest of the world is in decline. While sheep meat output in New Zealand declines along with that of wool, global sheep meat has been expanding. However, it is falling behind the expansion rate of competing animal proteins such as poultry meat. Lamb consumption has always had a smaller group of fans, based on historic ge...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

CFTC COT Report Analysis

The following tables/charts reflect the CFTC's latest data release, which covers traders' positions through 21 October. The data are, obviously, delayed due to the 40-day 2025 U.S. government shutdown. While the positions below likely have little influence on today's markets or fund positioning...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Technical Factors, SA Weather and Exports Sink CBOT

The CBOT was mostly lower to start the week with traders reluctant to add bullish risk ahead of the USDA’s WASDE report on Tuesday. Too, technical weakness rapidly enveloping the soy complex spooked traders and prompted a more cautious approach. Favorable weather in Brazil, slow soybean s...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.4375/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.3475/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $10.9375/bushel, down $0.115 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soymeal closed at $306.3/short ton, down $1...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

CFTC COT Report Analysis

The following tables/charts reflect the CFTC's latest data release, which covers traders' positions through 21 October. The data are, obviously, delayed due to the 40-day 2025 U.S. government shutdown. While the positions below likely have little influence on today's markets or fund positioning...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Technical Factors, SA Weather and Exports Sink CBOT

The CBOT was mostly lower to start the week with traders reluctant to add bullish risk ahead of the USDA’s WASDE report on Tuesday. Too, technical weakness rapidly enveloping the soy complex spooked traders and prompted a more cautious approach. Favorable weather in Brazil, slow soybean s...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.4375/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.3475/bushel, down $0.01 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $10.9375/bushel, down $0.115 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soymeal closed at $306.3/short ton, down $1...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Cattle are Hot Again, Grain Not so Much

Despite assurances from Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and the announcement this morning of nearly a half million tons of new soybean sales to China, the trade just doesn’t see the plausibility of a full 12 MMT of beans being bought near-term by Beijing. Particularly not when commitment...

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From WPI Consulting

Communicating importance of value-added products

Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.

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