Phase One Flaws Headlines surrounding China’s import purchases from the U.S. reflect the challenge of politically motivated purchasing agreements. On the one hand, analysts note that China’s imports of U.S. goods slowed again in May, making it unlikely that it will meet the purchase targets in the Phase One trade agreement. On the other, it is observed that soybeans have rallied this week on Chinese purchases from the U.S. despite South America being cheaper. Larger forward purchases could be coming once the U.S. new crop is harvested and prices become more competitive. Agricultural Supports Critique The OECD issued its 2021 report entitled Agricultural Policy Monitoring and Evaluation and it does not paint a pretty pic...
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.
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...