U.S. soybean, corn and wheat markets finished the night session up 1-2 cents despite the U.S./China trade war becoming a reality overnight. However, the soybean and soymeal markets opened strong today and moved to big gains by midmorning, putting the trade issues behind for at least today. Corn and wheat traded slightly higher much of the session and, like soybeans, extended those gains in the last hour. USDA will release its updated production estimates and revised WASDE next Thursday. Trading volume was pretty good for a Friday in a holiday-shortened week. U.S. equity markets were also strong today despite the tariffs. Crude oil was firm, and the U.S. dollar was weaker. As the eight-14 day weather maps show (see below), the extended Cor...
What You Need to Know Today: New World screwworm is back in the headlines after new cases were found in a hunter-harvested elk in Texas and a beef cow in New Mexico. The detection in wildlife could further complicate containment efforts, as implementing effective biosecurity measures is consid...
Cattle on Feed Expectations USDA’s monthly Cattle on Feed report that will show cattle inventory statistics as of 1 October will be released tomorrow, 23 October. Analysts’ pre-report consensus estimates are for the total inventory on feed to be 100.3 percent of last year, which imp...
Key Takeaways: Dry bulk markets remain mixed with Capesize rates turning around from their recent weakness and posting solid gains on improved Chinese demand. Panamax vessels, on the other hand, saw rates decline amid greater tonnage availability in the South Atlantic and falling U.S. Gu...
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.