Macroeconomics Food Inflation Cools Off Slightly December data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics show food prices rose year-on-year by 17.4 percent as compared to December 2018. Pork prices as noted in last week’s report were up for the month by 97 percent on an annualized basis. Nonetheless, December saw the first retreat in food prices since February. Apart from pork, edible oil prices increased in December by 4.8 percent over the previous year, while prices for fresh vegetables and eggs jumped by 10.8 percent and 6.2 percent, respectively. The only reprieve involved fresh fruit, which fell by 8 percent compared with December 2018. China’s food inflation has been the main driver of the country&rsq...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
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.