Since the start of 2020, the value of the nearby soybean contract has risen in value by over 25 percent. That compares to 7.28 percent for corn and 5 percent for SRW wheat. But this is not a single year story but rather a long-term dynamic. While rice remains the single most valuable crop in the world, followed by livestock, corn and then wheat, soybeans claim the title for the largest global value growth over a decade (see graph below). Rice and wheat are predominantly food crops and thus have stable demand but less diverse uses. Soybeans, and number two in value growth corn, are more diversified as their value chains have larger splits into food, feed, and fuel. But the demand for soybeans is pacing closer to the expansion capacity in pr...
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.
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...
Monday, 25 May is a U.S. holiday, and both the markets and our office will be closed. Please note that the next issue of Ag Perspectives will be published on Tuesday, 26 May. The WPI staff wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend...
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...