World Perspectives
feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Down Day but Most of the Week Was Temporarily Up

Today’s trading was mostly lower based on South American weather and the ever-present tariff threat. Overall, the first week in February 2025 experienced the following: It was the fourth week in a row higher for SRW, and the third week up for HRW and HRS. It was the second week in a row for otherwise bullish cattle to lose value, and hogs were the beneficiary with a second week higher. HRW was the outsized gainer, and feeder cattle the biggest loser.  Soymeal was the most volatile, rising over 4 percent, then falling 4 percent to end up almost unchanged.   The South American weather outlook is not great, but it is better and that put another damper on Chicago. Showers are lightening up, allowing more windows for soyb...

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livestock

Livestock Roundup: Dairy Herd

The U.S. dairy herd in 2025 expanded at the fastest pace since the 1950s and reached a level that has not occurred since the early 1990s. Based on the USDA monthly milk production report for December, the milk cow herd totaled 9.567 million head, up from the prior month and 212,000 head from a...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for January 23-29, 2026 Wheat: Net sales of 373,900 metric tons (MT) for 2025/2026 were down 33 percent from the previous week, but up 3 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 403,800 MT were up 7 percent from the previous week and 32 percent from...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins weakened further, with estimated net losses widening to -$233/head. While boxed beef values continued to firm, gains were outpaced by higher fed cattle prices, pressuring gross margins despite stable carcass weights and drop values. Packer profitability remains well below se...

livestock

Livestock Roundup: Dairy Herd

The U.S. dairy herd in 2025 expanded at the fastest pace since the 1950s and reached a level that has not occurred since the early 1990s. Based on the USDA monthly milk production report for December, the milk cow herd totaled 9.567 million head, up from the prior month and 212,000 head from a...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for January 23-29, 2026 Wheat: Net sales of 373,900 metric tons (MT) for 2025/2026 were down 33 percent from the previous week, but up 3 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 403,800 MT were up 7 percent from the previous week and 32 percent from...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins weakened further, with estimated net losses widening to -$233/head. While boxed beef values continued to firm, gains were outpaced by higher fed cattle prices, pressuring gross margins despite stable carcass weights and drop values. Packer profitability remains well below se...

Herrington Becomes President of World Perspectives, Inc.

Washington, DC—World Perspectives, Inc. (WPI) is a leading agricultural market analysis and consulting firm making a leadership transition marking an important milestone in the firm’s development. After years of distinguished service as President & CEO, Gary Blumenthal has stepp...

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From WPI Consulting

Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming

WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.

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