Livestock Price Pressures For Domestic Hogs and Chickens Continue In a recent interview, the chief pork industry analyst for the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA) said domestic hog prices should improve in June. This official believes that the imbalance between over-supply and slow consumer demand will be sorted out in the coming weeks. Yet, given current trends with both domestic pricing and increasing pork meat imports, that outlook seems rather optimistic. Last week saw the national average live hog price edge down RMB .06/kg ($.004/lb.) or .4 percent. With soybean meal prices staging a rally in recent weeks, feed costs have begun to edge higher, but they have been somewhat offset by declining corn pric...
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...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.