World Perspectives

All/Any Trade Agreements; He’s Back!; Helping Hurts

All/Any Trade Agreements University of Sydney sociologist and foreign policy columnist Salvatore Babones calls the recently agreed Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership (RCEP), “a China-style trade agreement: platitudinous and ineffective.” Aussies do not have a lot of warm feelings toward China right now but Babones notes that other than cutting already low tariffs, RCEP does little except appease internationalists who praise anything collectively written on paper. Among the issues barely mentioned or ignored in the agreement:  government subsidies government procurement intellectual property protection investor-state dispute settlement labor standards  agriculture safeguards The U.S. and Ecuador wi...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for April 4-10, 2025.  Wheat: Net sales of 76,500 metric tons (MT) for 2024/2025 were down 29 percent from the previous week, but up 2 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 483,500 MT were up 43 percent from the previous week and 11 percent f...

livestock

Cattle on Feed - April 2025

U.S. cattle on Feed totaled totaled 11.6 million head on April 1, 2025 - 2 percent below April 1, 2024.  Placements in feedlots during March totaled 1.84 million head, 5 percent above 2024.  Marketings of fed cattle during March totaled 1.73 million head, 1 percent above 2024.  O...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 25 Corn closed at $4.8225/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Wheat closed at $5.4875/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Soybeans closed at $10.365/bushel, down $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Soymeal closed at $295.6/short ton, down $1.1...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for April 4-10, 2025.  Wheat: Net sales of 76,500 metric tons (MT) for 2024/2025 were down 29 percent from the previous week, but up 2 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 483,500 MT were up 43 percent from the previous week and 11 percent f...

livestock

Cattle on Feed - April 2025

U.S. cattle on Feed totaled totaled 11.6 million head on April 1, 2025 - 2 percent below April 1, 2024.  Placements in feedlots during March totaled 1.84 million head, 5 percent above 2024.  Marketings of fed cattle during March totaled 1.73 million head, 1 percent above 2024.  O...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 25 Corn closed at $4.8225/bushel, down $0.02 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Wheat closed at $5.4875/bushel, up $0.01 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Soybeans closed at $10.365/bushel, down $0.0225 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Soymeal closed at $295.6/short ton, down $1.1...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Pre-Holiday Low Volume with Mixed Outcomes

There might be more life on the planet K2-18b than was seen in some of the trading pits today. While some contracts closed higher and others lower, the one consistent thing was lower pre-holiday volume across grains and oilseeds.  Ahead of a three-day market hiatus, all major contracts clo...

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From WPI Consulting

Illuminating the value of technical research

On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.

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