Prospects for demand should not be ignored. When it comes to supply/demand analyses for grains and soybeans, it is the yardstick by which we judge the adequacy of supplies.At the end of May each year, grain and soy markets are understandably focused on planting progress for the new spring-seeded crops and the condition of winter-seeded crops with a heavy overlay of weather prospects for both. U.S. corn planting is in its final stages at the end of May 2015 and a majority of the soybean crop has been planted, occurrences that are both earlier than average. U.S. HRW is being pummeled by excessive rains in Texas and Oklahoma, and the odds are that some loss of quality has occurred. There may also be some reduction in quantity as well, but neit...
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...
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.