Livestock Chinese Live Hog Market Facing More Challenges Despite recent market optimism that improved genetics and a better stream of new piglets could help offset losses from live hog prices, market news has not been rosy. The most recent surveys from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs (MARA), which cover 29 provinces, show the national average piglet price fell by 6 percent last week to RMB 28.44/kg ($4.40/kg) or RMB 12.90/lb. ($2.00/lb.) or about RMB 199.08/head ($30.82/head) for a 7-kg piglet. That is down year-on-year by 73.5 percent. The piglet price peaked at RMB 93.44/kg ($14.46/kg) or RMB 42.38/lb. ($6.56/lb.) in the third week of March. That translated into a price of RMB 654.08/head ($101/25/head)...
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.