While grain and soy futures markets could not mount a successful rally yesterday as most outside markets did, prices for grains and the soy complex (except for soyoil) did manage to move higher today with much of the impetus coming from noncommercial short covering. General Comments The U.S. Energy Information Administration(EIA) reported that U.S. stocks of crude oil grew by 10.4 million barrels last week. That increase is about four times larger than analysts expected, pushing crude oil futures prices into quick retreat. However, the oil market is up about $7 from its 2016 low with most of the catalyst provided by hope for some sort of multinational agreement constraining oil production. Also helpful to the rally, though, has been trad...
What You Need to Know Today: Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans continued to accelerate, with USDA reporting another 558 KMT sold to China and 236 KMT to unknown destinations. Combined with sales announced Wednesday and Thursday, the latest purchases bring the three-day total to approximately...
As fall begins, wild migratory birds are starting their seasonal migration. That has the industry and government officials worried about the potential spread, again, of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Some members of Congress have called for the United States to be prepared for a pote...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.