World Perspectives
softs

Cocoa Market Outlook: Futures Overbought but Demand Rationing to Continue

The 2024/25 cocoa market outlook is dominated by production concerns and continuing tightness in global stocks-to-grindings levels. The latter point will likely keep futures and physical prices elevated as the market works to ration demand amid a fourth straight year of weak production from West Africa. Despite this tightness, however, the world balance sheet will start to move towards a more abundant supply scenario that should allow prices to retreat from current highs. Short-Run Dynamics Cocoa prices have been nothing if not volatile in recent weeks with the ICE futures market surging to new all-time record highs on Wednesday before correction lower on Thursday in long profit taking. The U.S. dollar’s rise was a major factor th...

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livestock

Livestock Round Up: Red Meat Production Down, Broilers Up

USDA released the April WASDE today with new 2026 meat production forecasts, changed from the March release. Beef is now projected at 25.79 billion pounds, down 20 million from March, mostly on lower first-half steer and heifer slaughter. Higher cow slaughter will partially offset the reduced...

biofuel energy

Quick Hits: Ethanol and Biodiesel Margins Update

Ethanol Ethanol production margins continue to experience a counter-seasonal surge, with the energy market rally driving the bulk of the move. Prior to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, U.S. ethanol margins were already trending above year-ago levels by $0.10-0.20/gallon...

Transportation Perspectives - 9 April

WPI has officially launched Transportation Perspectives as a standalone weekly report separate from our Ag Perspectives articles and analysis. Current Ag Perspectives subscribers will have gratis access to the report through 16 April 2026. Please email us or subscr...

livestock

Livestock Round Up: Red Meat Production Down, Broilers Up

USDA released the April WASDE today with new 2026 meat production forecasts, changed from the March release. Beef is now projected at 25.79 billion pounds, down 20 million from March, mostly on lower first-half steer and heifer slaughter. Higher cow slaughter will partially offset the reduced...

biofuel energy

Quick Hits: Ethanol and Biodiesel Margins Update

Ethanol Ethanol production margins continue to experience a counter-seasonal surge, with the energy market rally driving the bulk of the move. Prior to the closure of the Strait of Hormuz in the Persian Gulf, U.S. ethanol margins were already trending above year-ago levels by $0.10-0.20/gallon...

Transportation Perspectives - 9 April

WPI has officially launched Transportation Perspectives as a standalone weekly report separate from our Ag Perspectives articles and analysis. Current Ag Perspectives subscribers will have gratis access to the report through 16 April 2026. Please email us or subscr...

Policy Deference; Reasserting Article I; Two-Tailed Dog; EU Imports; WTO Skepticism

Policy Deference The bilateral trade balance is a narrow way to look at the relative relationship between two countries. The government of Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo is seeking to ignore its own regulations that guide the application of the General Law on Adequate and Sustainable...

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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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