Soybeans Brazil The Brazilian market was almost entirely dead last week with Chinese buyers sidelined and not bidding on any position. Their absence has persisted for two weeks now, concerning several exporters. The situation is compounded by a lack of farmer selling (due to the strong Brazilian real). Consequently, the market remains at a standstill. The problem is that exporters need to move their logistics, and WPI believes they hold a 2-MMT long position in old crop soybeans. That is mostly for nearby deliveries and one of the reasons why the nearby market is receiving pressure. Last week the main activity was rolling positions forward. Several trading houses had to roll from July to August and pay 9 cents for 20 days, while rol...
What You Need to Know Today: Agricultural commodities were mostly lower on the day, with red-hot soyoil a notable exception. Export sales were a bit underwhelming, particularly for corn with export sales down 52 percent week-over-week. The weakness in ag markets tracked crude oil weakness wit...
With the war in Iran affecting fuel and fertilizer prices, higher tariffs, weak commodity prices, ag labor constraints, and other factors, farm bankruptcies are now at a 6-year high, a signal of growing stress. During the month of April, 62 Chapter 12 bankruptcies were filed, which is a 1...
Food Inflation The Open Markets Institute, which is notably funded by several “anonymous” donors and liberal foundations, obtained a guest editorial in the New York Times in which they blame agribusiness concentration for higher grocery prices. This is their schtick and it is politi...
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.