Livestock industry margins were decidedly mixed last week with diverging trends developing across the industry. Beef packer margins gained for the second straight week thanks to stronger beef prices that offset higher fed cattle prices, while feedlot margins dipped for both placements and closeouts Higher expected feed costs were the primary driver of the fourth straight week of declining feedlot placement margins with returns being negative for the third straight week. Closeout margins for feedlots fell from the prior week due to higher estimated feeder cattle purchase costs and greater cost of gain. For the hog and pork industry, packer margins weakened slightly last week as hog prices rose slightly and the drop value dipped, both o...
What You Need to Know Today: Markets opened double digits higher Sunday evening following the release of Chinese and American official summaries of bilateral discussions last week. They chose the more optimistic view of future Chinese purchases of American farm goods versus the more opaque inte...
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday launched an investigation into the beef industry over potential anticompetitive conduct among the nation’s largest meatpackers, his office announced Friday. He said the investigation would be conducted alongside a separate antitrust probe announ...
Update for 6 April 2025: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where ob...
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.