The CBOT finished on a high note heading into the February WASDE – a report that could be a turning point for the 2020/21 crop year. Corn and soyoil futures posted fresh contract highs (alongside live cattle and lean hogs) while the corn rally pulled wheat and soybeans higher as well. KC wheat futures posted a technically bullish day on heavy trading volume as cold weather in the U.S. is causing production risk concerns. The Goldman roll is ongoing as funds roll March contracts into May futures, which is helping inflate trading volumes and influence spreads. Funds are thought to have bought some 12,000 contracts of corn on Monday, along with 8,000 contracts of wheat and 10,000 contracts of soybeans. As noted on Friday, most ana...
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.