NDRC Announces New Hog Price Control Plan In an attempt to reverse a continued slump in China's hog market, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) released a new plan aimed at stabilizing prices and improving farmer returns. Market interventions under the new scheme, dubbed the "Regulatory Plan to Ease the Cyclical Fluctuations in the Live Hog Market Price," will be tied to the hog-corn price ratio, like NDRC's "Hog Price Alert" program introduced in 2009. Measures will be taken whenever the price ratio dips below 6:1 or exceeds 8.5:1.In the 14 May announcement, NDRC notes that prices are now below 6:1, and therefore NDRC will introduce subsidies to encourage large-scale meat processors to increase their frozen pork stocks...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
Russian Grain Markets: 12–16 October 2026 During the week in review, the Russian grain market began recovering after an extended decline driven largely by Black Sea logistics bottlenecks, a good crop and weaker global demand in traditional Russian markets. Russia is beginning to harvest c...
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.