World Perspectives
livestock

Cattle on Feed: Huge Placements!

USDA released the monthly Cattle on Feed report today; the total inventory of cattle on feed in feedlots of 1,000 head or more capacity was 11.6 million head. Following is a summary and breakdown of today’s report. Placements, once again, surprised to the upside, at 106 percent of last year, higher than the largest analyst’s pre-report guess, which was 104.8 percent of last September. Another key telling point looking out to 2024 is that among the larger inventory on feed was a one percent increase in heifers versus last year. That’s a signal that herd liquidation has not hit a reversal point.    Live cattle and feeder cattle contracts were down across the board. These are not normal times, however, and futur...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 25 Corn closed at $4.5075/bushel, down $0.0875 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Wheat closed at $5.2925/bushel, down $0.165 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Soybeans closed at $9.9175/bushel, down $0.2025 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Soymeal closed at $308.6/short ton, down $11...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: 2025 Brings Corrections for Overbought Futures

The CBOT started 2025 on a relatively strong note, but any hints of bullishness were largely erased on Friday. Ag markets across the board fell sharply on the second trading day of the new year with weak export data, South American weather, and changes on taxes on trading profits driving much o...

livestock

2025 Poultry Outlook

The poultry sector is poised for production growth in 2025, but price trends are expected to vary across products. Broiler growers in the U.S. placed 191 million chicks for meat production last week, which was up 4 percent from the last week of December 2023. Cumulative placements from the...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Mar 25 Corn closed at $4.5075/bushel, down $0.0875 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Wheat closed at $5.2925/bushel, down $0.165 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Soybeans closed at $9.9175/bushel, down $0.2025 from yesterday's close. Mar 25 Soymeal closed at $308.6/short ton, down $11...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: 2025 Brings Corrections for Overbought Futures

The CBOT started 2025 on a relatively strong note, but any hints of bullishness were largely erased on Friday. Ag markets across the board fell sharply on the second trading day of the new year with weak export data, South American weather, and changes on taxes on trading profits driving much o...

livestock

2025 Poultry Outlook

The poultry sector is poised for production growth in 2025, but price trends are expected to vary across products. Broiler growers in the U.S. placed 191 million chicks for meat production last week, which was up 4 percent from the last week of December 2023. Cumulative placements from the...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Export Sales

Export Sales and Shipments for December 20-26, 2024 Wheat: Net sales of 140,600 metric tons (MT) for 2024/2025--a marketing-year low--were down 77 percent from the previous week and 68 percent from the prior 4-week average. Export shipments of 381,900 MT were up 2 percent from the previous...

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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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