The CBOT saw wheat emerge as the upside leader for the day with multiple bullish stories offering support, including one from Reuters that indicates Russia may be considering a ban on grain exports. Details are nonexistent, but there is reportedly a meeting soon between the ag ministry and grain traders to “discuss” a possible ban. That, combined with global weather issues and a 1-MMT cut to Argentina’s wheat crop forecast, put wheat in the green for the day. Corn and soybeans tried to follow but, lacking any bullish story(ies) of their own, such attempts failed and markets slid lower. Funds were slight net sellers in corn and the soy complex while still covering shorts in wheat. Pre-WASDE trade and position evening, of co...
Dry bulk markets are steady/firmer this week with Capes leading the rally and, on the other end of the vessel size spectrum, strong grain demand supporting Handysize vessels too. Capesize rates soared again this week on strong Australian miner buying that stemmed from accelerated Chinese...
Key Market Insights Today was another reminder that this market is trading headlines first, facts second. Early optimism surrounding reports of a possible U.S.-Iran memorandum of understanding helped pressure energy risk premium and kept the broader commodity space defensive. An hour later, how...
Key Takeaways: Cattle producers are currently capturing a greater proportion of total retail beef values amid tight cattle supplies. Packers are forced to make higher bids on cattle to keep operations running when supplies are tight, hurting packer margins. Sustained poor packer margins...
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.