Packing capacity has been an issue not only for cattle and beef production, but for broilers also. Production is also slowed by various issues like labor availability and social distancing protocols. Pork, where the name plate capacity has expanded in the recent past, and the market hog herd contracting hasn’t seen the same sort of impact; in fact, hog prices are quite bullish. Broiler meat production was down 3 percent in the Q1 of the year compared to 2020 – a pre-pandemic comparison. It is catching up, with cumulative production now running only 1 percent below last year on slightly heavier birds, though slaughter is still 3 percent down. Additionally, as of April, cold storage inventories were at a seven-year low – an...
What You Need to Know Today: The corn and soybean markets closed slightly higher in low-volume trade. The wheat market was mixed, with HRW continuing its downward trek on improved moisture. As expected, the bearish cattle on feed report drove down cattle prices and pulled hogs down with it. Mi...
Monday, 25 May is a U.S. holiday, and both the markets and our office will be closed. Please note that the next issue of Ag Perspectives will be published on Tuesday, 26 May. The WPI staff wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend...
USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report was released today. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity amounted to 11.6 million head, 102 percent of last year. Source: USDA, WPI Placements were up, but part of that is attributable to persistent drought c...
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.