Thursday’s meeting between U.S. President Trump and China’s President Xi was apparently successful, based on the comments coming out of the White House and, to a lesser degree, Beijing. One of the key outcomes of the recent meeting was that China will return to purchasing U.S. soybeans with minimum volumes specified. U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said Thursday that China will buy 12 MMT (440 Mbu) of soybeans between now and January (when the Brazilian crop arrives). Subsequent to that, China has agreed to purchase 25 MMT (918 Mbu) annually for the next three years. The news is widely being heralded as a great deal for American farmers and caused another day of sharply higher trade in CBOT soybean futures. The news...
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.