World Perspectives
livestock

Cattle Inventory Report: U.S. Cattle Herd Still in Contraction

USDA released its January Cattle Inventory report today. The U.S. cattle herd is still in a contraction phase.  The total inventory of all cattle and calves as of 1 January was 86.7 million head, down 500,000 head from last year. Key numbers from today’s report are: The cattle on feed estimate showed 87.2 percent on feedlots of 1,000 head or more capacity, slightly higher than last year.  The combined total of calves under 500 pounds, other heifers, plus steers over 500 pounds, representing the number of feeder cattle outside of feedlots, was 24.6 million head, just slightly below 1 January 2024. The 1 January number of feeder cattle outside of feedlots is the lowest since 2015. Feeder cattle outside feed lots make up 63 p...

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Market Commentary: Down Day but Most of the Week Was Temporarily Up

Today’s trading was mostly lower based on South American weather and the ever-present tariff threat. Overall, the first week in February 2025 experienced the following: It was the fourth week in a row higher for SRW, and the third week up for HRW and HRS. It was the second week in a row...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 25 Corn closed at $4.875/bushel, down $0.0775 from yesterday's close.  Mar 25 Wheat closed at $5.8275/bushel, down $0.05 from yesterday's close.  Mar 25 Soybeans closed at $10.495/bushel, down $0.11 from yesterday's close.  Mar 25 Soymeal closed at $301.4/short ton, down $5 f...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

WPI 2025 Acreage Outlook

With the USDA’s annual Ag Outlook forum happening at the end of this month and planting season a little more than four weeks away for parts of the U.S., the industry is turning its attention to the acreage outlook for 2025. This year offers significant differences from recent conditions t...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Down Day but Most of the Week Was Temporarily Up

Today’s trading was mostly lower based on South American weather and the ever-present tariff threat. Overall, the first week in February 2025 experienced the following: It was the fourth week in a row higher for SRW, and the third week up for HRW and HRS. It was the second week in a row...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 25 Corn closed at $4.875/bushel, down $0.0775 from yesterday's close.  Mar 25 Wheat closed at $5.8275/bushel, down $0.05 from yesterday's close.  Mar 25 Soybeans closed at $10.495/bushel, down $0.11 from yesterday's close.  Mar 25 Soymeal closed at $301.4/short ton, down $5 f...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

WPI 2025 Acreage Outlook

With the USDA’s annual Ag Outlook forum happening at the end of this month and planting season a little more than four weeks away for parts of the U.S., the industry is turning its attention to the acreage outlook for 2025. This year offers significant differences from recent conditions t...

U.S. Food Aid Status

The Trump Administration’s placement of the U.S. Agency for International Development on ice has sparked a firestorm in Washington. Critics of the agency point to an NGO industrial complex that works contrary to some American policy goals and diverts money from needy Americans. Supporters...

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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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