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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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Black Sea Regional Analysis

Russian Grains Market: 8–12 December 2025 Russia’s grain market continued its bearish trend that began in early December. Global fundamentals remain the primary pressure point, and Russia is no exception given its strong linkage to international trade flows. Exceptions include barte...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins reversed sharply lower last week, swinging back into negative territory after six straight weeks of positive returns. Margins fell $145/head to –$75 as fed cattle prices rebounded $7/cwt (live basis), while the Choice cutout slipped nearly $7/cwt. The rapid compression...

FOB Prices and Freight Rates App (Updated 17 December)

WPI Grain Prices and Freight Rate App Note: you can also visit the app directly by clicking here. Supplemental Information The section below offers a concise view of the options available in the current version of the WPI FOB Price and Freight Rate app, along with a short “How To”...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Black Sea Regional Analysis

Russian Grains Market: 8–12 December 2025 Russia’s grain market continued its bearish trend that began in early December. Global fundamentals remain the primary pressure point, and Russia is no exception given its strong linkage to international trade flows. Exceptions include barte...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins reversed sharply lower last week, swinging back into negative territory after six straight weeks of positive returns. Margins fell $145/head to –$75 as fed cattle prices rebounded $7/cwt (live basis), while the Choice cutout slipped nearly $7/cwt. The rapid compression...

FOB Prices and Freight Rates App (Updated 17 December)

WPI Grain Prices and Freight Rate App Note: you can also visit the app directly by clicking here. Supplemental Information The section below offers a concise view of the options available in the current version of the WPI FOB Price and Freight Rate app, along with a short “How To”...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Downtrend Dominance; Wheat Hits New Lows; Soy Falls on Crush Numbers

Each year, the Chinese zodiac calendar features one animal to mark and typify the coming 365 days. If that process were applied to CBOT trade, Tuesday would have been the “day of the bear”, with all major grain markets ending in the red. The only specific trigger was the bearish NOP...

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From WPI Consulting

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.

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