There are many subjects, big and small, of interest to agricultural markets and worthy of discussion as we head deeper into February, although grain and soy markets often have a split focus during this month that has sometimes resulted in erratic price action. Among them are: 1) the old crop situation with seven months of the U.S. corn and soybean crop year still left, which is plenty of time for changes in perceived supply/demand fundamentals; 2) the impending spring planting season that will get underway in just a few weeks and force attention on what might lie ahead for the new crop; and 3) the South American harvest that by now should be well underway but is complicated this year by the persistent Argentine drought. Then there are...
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...