U.S. beef production has been falling but pork output is rising. The higher price of beef has made the consumption of competing animal proteins like pork and poultry more attractive. Thus, pork prices initially got a boost out of the extra demand created by the shortfall in beef availability. USDA’s forecast calls for beef production and exports to continue falling, as its price continues to rise. However, the spillover in the pork market recedes next year, when pork prices are forecast to fall, and the growth in pork exports continues to rise. The drop in beef output would be greater except feedlots are incentivized to increase the weight of the animals on hand. Average slaughter weights of hogs is also increasing. U.S. pork e...
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.