China made a rare purchase of U.S. wheat and is on track to make record overall purchases this year. Domestic consumption of wheat has been growing at a 2.6 percent annual rate at the same time domestic production is increasing by 0.66 percent. Exacerbating the situation this year is excessive rains reducing part of its crop to feed quality. Now it needs more imported milling quality wheat to blend up its supplies. One question is why the wheat is being largely sourced from the West? Australia is logical due to its proximity and has supplied about 60 percent of its imports thus far. Now China is reportedly looking to the U.S., Canada, and France. Russia is the logical supplier based on their geopolitical alliance, and Moscow claims t...
The corn and soy complex closed higher, with the wheat market mixed, as winter wheat closed up but spring wheat and livestock ended lower. Part of the strength for corn and soybeans may have been a weather premium, as crop planting has started out fast but warm weather has been slow to develop...
WPI recently completed an expansion of our methodology for estimating and forecasting U.S. and global soybean crushing margins. The new approach incorporates the energy market’s expanding influence on the oilseed sector and the structural changes in global biofuel demand. This report is i...
Key Market Insights Macros: Inflation isn’t cooling — it’s moving higher again. March PCE inflation (Personal Consumption Expenditures index — the Fed’s preferred measure of inflation) rose 0.7 percent month-over-month, pushing the annual rate to 3.5 percent, the h...
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.