The CBOT continued its mostly range-bound trading affair on Wednesday with the ag markets seeing little fresh news to drive price action one way or another. Wheat futures hit new contract lows but recovered from that selloff to end slightly higher, though the market seems committed to staying near current levels. That statement could also be made of the soybean and corn markets where low-volatility trade has taken over since the Thanksgiving holiday. Traders seem to have become resigned to sideways trade heading into next week’s WASDE report and may have to continue that pattern into the holidays as the December report seldom offers big surprises. The most interesting price action right now is in the livestock markets where hogs look to be...
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.
What You Need to Know Today: Wheat prices surged after Ukrainian strikes on Russian vessels and infrastructure disrupted grain shipments, halting traffic through the Sea of Azov, Kerch Strait, and Black Sea. The July WASDE report offered a modestly supportive outlook for corn, wheat, and soybe...
The trade deficit in goods and services came in at $77.6 billion in May, slightly smaller than the consensus estimate of $78.4 billion. After a few months of relative stability, the trade deficit widened in May. The increase in the deficit for the month was due to both a rise in imports, which...
Every June combines begin their annual sweep across the winter wheat fields of Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas. At the same time, USDA releases its Acreage and Crop Progress reports, providing the first comprehensive look at the size and condition of the crop. Most years the reports simply confirm...