Commodity futures volume is notably higher on WASDE release dates, and understandably lower on short trading days like Christmas Eve. Putting it into context, in recent years the volume of soybean and SRW contracts traded on Christmas Eve has been about one-third the volume traded on the WASDE release date for December. The highest recently traded volume for Christmas Eve was in 2017, while the lowest was in 2012. What is notable is that the volume traded on Christmas Eve has generally been trending larger. Meaning that over time, this is becoming a busier day for work. It is unclear whether this is the result of increased secularism, financial pressure, or the Amazon effect of enabling holiday shopping and commodity trading to occur...
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.