Cattle and Beef Outlook USDA revised its 2018 beef production forecast to 26.9 billion pounds, a decrease of 30 million pounds, as fewer fed cattle are expected to go to slaughter in the fourth quarter. The production estimate for 2019 is 27.8 billion pounds, down 100 million on lower-than-trend feedlot placements in the third quarter. Thus, the revisions to USDA’s earlier trends come from lower numbers in back-to back-quarters. 4.7 percent fewer cattle were placed in feedlots, but there were also 3.6 percent fewer cattle marketed than the previous year, which would still result in increased beef production. Strong marketing in the first half of 2019 can be expected as a result. Exports have been supportive of beef prices throughout...
What You Need to Know Today: The corn and soybean markets closed slightly higher in low-volume trade. The wheat market was mixed, with HRW continuing its downward trek on improved moisture. As expected, the bearish cattle on feed report drove down cattle prices and pulled hogs down with it. Mi...
Monday, 25 May is a U.S. holiday, and both the markets and our office will be closed. Please note that the next issue of Ag Perspectives will be published on Tuesday, 26 May. The WPI staff wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend...
USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report was released today. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity amounted to 11.6 million head, 102 percent of last year. Source: USDA, WPI Placements were up, but part of that is attributable to persistent drought c...
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.