World Perspectives
feed-grains wheat softs

Trade and Food Security

An anomaly since COVID disrupted supply chains is that the price of rice has been more stable than other food staples such as corn and wheat.  One argument for this is that a far smaller share of total rice production is traded, making it less subject to global supply/demand volatility.  This runs counter to arguments that a diversified supply chain means that a production problem in one area is remedied by surplus supplies arriving from elsewhere. Historically, the prices for these three food staples have correlated. However, rice has itself encountered periods in which its price has proved an outlier. In 2008, it reached high levels relative to wheat due to a supply shortage. In 2002 and 2013, rice farmers were exasperated...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Downtrend Dominance; Wheat Hits New Lows; Soy Falls on Crush Numbers

Each year, the Chinese zodiac calendar features one animal to mark and typify the coming 365 days. If that process were applied to CBOT trade, Tuesday would have been the “day of the bear”, with all major grain markets ending in the red. The only specific trigger was the bearish NOP...

softs

Bearish Sugar Prices to Continue Despite Production Increases

The U.S. 2025/26 sugar supply is forecast at 14.119 million short tons, raw value (STRV), down 1,800 STRV from November as the decrease in expected imports of refined organic and specialty sugar, which pays the high tier, out of quota duty, more than offsets the increase in beginning stocks and...

soy-oilseeds wheat

China Market Analysis

Beans to Storage China is carrying out its annual purge of stored soybeans, selling them at around a half million tons per week over two months at auction. The amount of market discount depends more on quality, which is better than a few years ago when the need for stock rotation was newly appr...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Downtrend Dominance; Wheat Hits New Lows; Soy Falls on Crush Numbers

Each year, the Chinese zodiac calendar features one animal to mark and typify the coming 365 days. If that process were applied to CBOT trade, Tuesday would have been the “day of the bear”, with all major grain markets ending in the red. The only specific trigger was the bearish NOP...

softs

Bearish Sugar Prices to Continue Despite Production Increases

The U.S. 2025/26 sugar supply is forecast at 14.119 million short tons, raw value (STRV), down 1,800 STRV from November as the decrease in expected imports of refined organic and specialty sugar, which pays the high tier, out of quota duty, more than offsets the increase in beginning stocks and...

soy-oilseeds wheat

China Market Analysis

Beans to Storage China is carrying out its annual purge of stored soybeans, selling them at around a half million tons per week over two months at auction. The amount of market discount depends more on quality, which is better than a few years ago when the need for stock rotation was newly appr...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 26 Corn closed at $4.365/bushel, down $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Mar 26 Wheat closed at $5.095/bushel, down $0.1125 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $10.6275/bushel, down $0.09 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soymeal closed at $302.4/short ton, down $1...

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From WPI Consulting

Forecasting developments in production agriculture

On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.

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