Apparently, of more interest to traders than South American weather is the imminent rebalancing of index funds. Thus, Inter-market spreading was the story of today’s market action, which did help ramp up trading volume from the very low pre-holiday levels. General Comments CME grain and soy markets reopened at 7 p.m. (CST) yesterday after the long New Year holiday weekend, and traders were armed with three days’ worth of weather model runs covering the 10-15 day forecast for Brazil and Argentina. Basically, there was not much change in that outlook as of late Monday from last Friday’s midday run. The abnormally dry patterns are to persist over northeast and north-central Brazil plus La Pampa and Buenos Aires in Argentina. There may be a f...
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
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.