Today’s WASDE report changed the picture for oilseeds but in an underwhelming fashion. For those betting that suboptimal U.S. weather this past growing season would reveal its toll, there was disappointment. Total U.S. oilseed production was reduced 0.186 percent and then only because the slight increase in soybean production was not enough to offset reductions in the smaller oilseeds. The reductions understandably occurred in the Dakotas and USDA says it will resurvey farmers this spring in five states with some residual un-harvested crops. The report was also slightly bearish from a global standpoint. There has been suboptimal weather in South America, but USDA is not ready to make reductions without clear evidence and given the pe...
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.