Macroeconomics Food Costs in September Surge Upward by Nearly 9 Percent With the 20th Party Congress concluded, China’s economic data through Q3 are making their way into the public domain. Courtesy of a resurgence in live pig and pork prices last month, food prices, on aggregate, jumped by 8.8 percent from a year ago, the largest spike since August 2020. The average cost of pork rose by 36 percent year-on-year, while fresh fruit and vegetables saw upticks of 17.8 percent and 12.1 percent, respectively. Other notable increases pertained to eggs, up 7.3 percent, milk up 1.1 percent, and cooking oil up 8.3 percent. Meanwhile, the overall inflation rate went from 2.5 percent in August to 2.8 percent in September, as non-food items saw...
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.