World Perspectives
livestock

Cattle on Feed: Placements Surprise

USDA released its monthly Cattle on Feed report today; the inventory of cattle and calves on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head capacity or more on 1 April was 11.6 million, or 96 percent of April 2022 – above expectations. That total matched the 1 March inventory, and the year-over-year drop in March. This is the seventh consecutive month where on-feed inventories are lower than year-ago levels, casting the dye for the rest of the year.  This was also the quarterly report that provides a breakdown of steers and heifers. There were 7.12 million steers and steer calves, 94 percent from the previous year. This group accounted for 61 percent of the total inventory. Heifers and heifer calves accounted for 4.50 million head, 98 percent...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Mixed But Steady with an Outside Surprise

The U.S. created more new jobs in January than expected, especially in healthcare. And there was more ethanol produced last week than the market expected. Soyoil hit a new contract high, but South American production continues to look quite substantial. The mixed news produced mixed results, bu...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins weakened further last week, with estimated net losses widening to -$247/head, extending the deterioration seen through late January. Boxed beef values were firmer last week, but gains failed to offset increases in fed cattle prices, resulting in additional margin compression...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.275/bushel, down $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.3725/bushel, up $0.09 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $11.24/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $303/short ton, up $2.2 from ye...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Mixed But Steady with an Outside Surprise

The U.S. created more new jobs in January than expected, especially in healthcare. And there was more ethanol produced last week than the market expected. Soyoil hit a new contract high, but South American production continues to look quite substantial. The mixed news produced mixed results, bu...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins weakened further last week, with estimated net losses widening to -$247/head, extending the deterioration seen through late January. Boxed beef values were firmer last week, but gains failed to offset increases in fed cattle prices, resulting in additional margin compression...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.275/bushel, down $0.0125 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.3725/bushel, up $0.09 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $11.24/bushel, up $0.015 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $303/short ton, up $2.2 from ye...

wheat

WASDE Wheat - Feb 2026

USDA’s outlook for 2025/26 U.S. wheat is unchanged for exports and slightly higher ending stocks to 931 million bushels - 9 percent higher than last year and the largest since 2019/20. The projected 2025/26 season-average farm price remains at $4.90 per bushel.  The global outlook fo...

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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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