The general view now is that India's 2013 soybean crop was no greater than 9 MMT, and the country is likely to face a severe soymeal shortage in the domestic market from now until the fall harvest. Sharp Decline in India's February Soymeal Exports India's February soymeal exports fell to only 183,550 MT from 364,443 MT in January and 581,606 MT in February 2013. The total was 1.502576 MMT for November 2013-February 2014 compared with 2.265589 MMT for the same period a year ago, according to India's Solvent Extractors Association (SEA). The sharp decline is the result of a smaller soybean crop in 2013, poor soybean quality and farmers' reluctance to sell their smaller crop.Because of the good monsoon India experienced in 2013, the early ex...
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...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.