World Perspectives
livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

The livestock packing sector saw mixed trends in profitability over the past week with packer margins improving for both the beef and pork sectors. Beef packing margins have been negative for five weeks now and hog packing margins in the red for three weeks, both of which present a threat to prices for cattle and hogs. Forward-looking placement margins for feedlots and wean-to-finish producers turned higher on stronger expected/hedged sale prices and, in the case of feedlots, lower feeder cattle costs. Note that farrow-to-finish margins at farrowing hit a new four-year high at $39/head last week. In contrast, closeout margins (e.g., profits on last week’s sales) deteriorates for the feedlot industry and farrow-to-finish and wean-to-finish h...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Major Influences Yield Higher Day/Week

Markets moved higher today, with larger volumes trading in corn and winter wheat. While fundamentals remain broadly unchanged currently, there were several factors influencing prices. Winterkill: An outsized winter storm, possibly including ice, is descending on the U.S. winter wheat crop. Whil...

livestock

Cattle on Feed Report

USDA’s monthly Cattle on Feed report was released today. Total cattle on feed amounted to 11.5 million head, or 97 percent of last year. Placements were higher than forecast, and marketings were near pre-report estimates. This was the quarterly report showing steers and heifers on feed...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.305/bushel, up $0.065 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.295/bushel, up $0.14 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $10.6775/bushel, up $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $299.9/short ton, up $3.7 from y...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Major Influences Yield Higher Day/Week

Markets moved higher today, with larger volumes trading in corn and winter wheat. While fundamentals remain broadly unchanged currently, there were several factors influencing prices. Winterkill: An outsized winter storm, possibly including ice, is descending on the U.S. winter wheat crop. Whil...

livestock

Cattle on Feed Report

USDA’s monthly Cattle on Feed report was released today. Total cattle on feed amounted to 11.5 million head, or 97 percent of last year. Placements were higher than forecast, and marketings were near pre-report estimates. This was the quarterly report showing steers and heifers on feed...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.305/bushel, up $0.065 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.295/bushel, up $0.14 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soybeans closed at $10.6775/bushel, up $0.0375 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Soymeal closed at $299.9/short ton, up $3.7 from y...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for January 9-15, 2026. Wheat: Net sales of 618,100 metric tons (MT) for 2025/2026 were up noticeably from the previous week and from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 372,400 MT were up 23 percent from the previous week, but down 3 percent from the prior...

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From WPI Consulting

Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming

WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.

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