World Perspectives
livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins fell over $100/head for the second straight week to hit - $151/head, which is among the worst margins in the past decade. The culprit for weaker margins was an $11/cwt pullback in the Choice cutout and other beef values while fed cattle prices were steady/slightly higher. Packers tried to delay purchases last week, but ended up having to pay for spot cattle to fill beef orders. As margins weaken again, the threat of suspended weekend kills and reduced slaughter rates increases as a threat to fed cattle values. Feedlot profit margins for last week’s placements turned $134/head higher ...

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Market Commentary: The Long-Run Draws Near

The CBOT markets were surprisingly insulated from a jump in crude oil that started the week. Crude oil futures rallied to $115/brl - their highest levels since the earliest days of the U.S.-Iran war - on rhetoric from the White House that signaled an escalation in the conflict. While the oil he...

Farmland Consolidation

Under the theory of economies of scale, the size of farms, like that of all industries, should increase over time due to improvements in productivity. Farmers themselves understand that the more land they farm, the greater their output and, thus, the larger their potential incomes. Government p...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.54/bushel, up $0.0175 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.9525/bushel, down $0.03 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.6675/bushel, up $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $316.6/short ton, up $1.4 fro...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: The Long-Run Draws Near

The CBOT markets were surprisingly insulated from a jump in crude oil that started the week. Crude oil futures rallied to $115/brl - their highest levels since the earliest days of the U.S.-Iran war - on rhetoric from the White House that signaled an escalation in the conflict. While the oil he...

Farmland Consolidation

Under the theory of economies of scale, the size of farms, like that of all industries, should increase over time due to improvements in productivity. Farmers themselves understand that the more land they farm, the greater their output and, thus, the larger their potential incomes. Government p...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.54/bushel, up $0.0175 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.9525/bushel, down $0.03 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.6675/bushel, up $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $316.6/short ton, up $1.4 fro...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 6 April)

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...

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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.

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