Chinese Pork Update Chinese consumers are showing an aversion to meat because of the recent animal health scares there. Feeder pig prices in China are now in the red. Feeder pig prices last week averaged RMB 25.81/kilogram, which was down 1 percent from the previous week and down 20 percent from the same week last year. Pig sales now have a negative margin of RMB 13.81/head. Feeder pig margins last year were RMB 154.04/head, a decline of 108.97 percent. Farrow-to-finish margins now are down more than 250 percent. On 7 April, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) announced it would begin purchasing pork for the national reserve to buoy hog prices. However, to date, purchases have been light and the impact has been small...
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.