World Perspectives
livestock

Cattle on Feed Report: Record February Placements

USDA released the monthly Cattle on Feed report today. As has been the case more often than not since mid-2023, actual placements have exceeded the pre-report estimates. 

Coming into today’s report the consensus estimate among analysts was for placements to be 106 percent of last year’s total. As WPI wrote yesterday, weather last year was expected to have an impact. Weather conditions kept a lid on February 2023 placements, and 2024 January weather led to fewer cattle being placed, deferring them into February. As WPI wrote after the 1 February Cattle on Feed report, as January’s “wet and muddy conditions have improved, it is likely that February placements have rebounded.” And rebound they did. Actual...

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Market Commentary: War, Crude Oil Still Dominate

The geopolitics of war in Iran are said to now be eclipsing any market focus on next week’s USDA March WASDE report. Volumes were modest in today’s trading, but the message was nonetheless clear – shipping grain and inputs is getting complicated.  Notably, the ratio of De...

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Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.605/bushel, up $0.07 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $6.1675/bushel, up $0.33 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $12.0075/bushel, up $0.215 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $317.2/short ton, up $7.9 from ye...

Farm Bill Clears House of Representatives

After two days of mark-up, the so-called “skinny farm bill,” the Farm, Food, and National Security Act, cleared the House of Representatives Agriculture Committee by a vote of 34-17, with 7 Democrats joining all 27 Republicans voting in favor. It will now move to the House floor and...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: War, Crude Oil Still Dominate

The geopolitics of war in Iran are said to now be eclipsing any market focus on next week’s USDA March WASDE report. Volumes were modest in today’s trading, but the message was nonetheless clear – shipping grain and inputs is getting complicated.  Notably, the ratio of De...

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Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.605/bushel, up $0.07 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $6.1675/bushel, up $0.33 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $12.0075/bushel, up $0.215 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $317.2/short ton, up $7.9 from ye...

Farm Bill Clears House of Representatives

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Middle East Grain Trade Trends

Somewhat lost in the current discussion over the impacts of the conflict in Iran and the Persian Gulf is the impact on grain trade. The region is not usually at the top of grain market analysts’ thinking when it comes to major demand centers, yet it accounts for significant global grain c...

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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.

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