Macroeconomic Food Prices in July See Biggest Drop Since April 2017 With live hog and pork prices falling to breakeven levels, the overall food inflation rate for the month of July fell by 3.7 percent year-on-year. This marked the second straight month of food prices declining in the aggregate on yearly basis. It also parallels a slowing economy in China, as the second quarter GDP grew at an annualized rate of 7.9 percent, below the consensus estimate of 8.1 percent and down from the initial pandemic recovery of 18.3 percent for the first quarter. Pork prices in July dropped by 4.5 percent from the previous year, while fresh vegetables were down 4 percent. Meanwhile, other staple foodstuffs, which are up from a year ago, continue to see...
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...
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...
Let’s return briefly to the fake meat hype cycle, now sitting somewhere in a dusty corner of your mind, not entirely forgotten. What happened to all those products, known as plant-based alternative proteins? They were supposed to be as good as real meat—cheaper, more environmentally...
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.