Markets opened big like the overnight but then, outside of wheat, it somewhat corrected itself, in part due to profit-taking. It was a volatile day with new contract highs across several contracts, but then some settlements at some to much lower levels. There will be new daily limits for those contracts that touched their tops in today’s action. While Russia’s attack on Ukraine pushed commodity markets higher, some historical background about geopolitical crises may also be at play. To quote Mark Twain, history does not repeat itself, but it often rhymes. Crises like this always cause an initial shock, and then there is a recovery. For those that think current market levels are sustainable, there are bears to ensur...
What You Need to Know Today: There has already been a strong run of flash soybean sales announcements in recent weeks, but more than 1.4 MMT reported this morning is an exceptionally large single-day total with major implications for the market. If the sales to China and unknown destinations w...
On Friday, at 6:57 AM, President Donald Trump announced, via a social media post, a 90-day window during which up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef could be imported outside of tariff-rate quotas—a move aimed at bringing down costs for American consumers. This is the secon...
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.