Trading at the CBOT today was muted with traders mostly evening positions, taking some profits, and generally not adding to or subtracting from risk ahead of the weekend. Fundamental news was light as well, except for forecasts that a tropical storm in the Gulf of Mexico will create above-average rainfall for the Eastern Corn Belt starting early next week. The weekend weather looks fine for the bulk of the Midwest, however. Two days ago, the Federal Reserve released its monthly Beige Book that details economic conditions around the country. The bottom line from the Fed was the U.S. economic expanded in September and that business contacts expect it to continue expanding in the coming 6-12 months, though the Fed noted “however,...
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...
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.