Grain and oilseed futures traded quietly today ahead of the Christmas and New Year’s holidays. With the dry Argentine weather moderating there is little news to push the markets one direction or another. Currently, U.S. stock indexes are mixed/flat with the S&P 500 up 0.15 point and the Dow down 14 points. The dollar is trading 13.5 points lower while WTI crude is up $0.53 and Brent is up $0.77/barrel. Corn December corn futures finished the day 1 ¾ cents higher at $3.49 ¼ on 96,000 contracts traded. Ethanol production fell 1.1% this week but remains well above year-ago levels, signaling that USDA’s usage forecast may yet prove too low. Interior basis levels are continuing to firm with commercial...
What You Need to Know Today: After a period of limited activity, USDA reported a sizeable 613 KMT in soybean export sales, including 330 KMT to China and 283 KMT to unknown destinations, potentially also China. The purchases represent a meaningful pickup in demand and bring China closer to ful...
Key Takeaways: Consumer spending is a key driver of the U.S. economy, and the latest retail sales data indicate that spending remains robust despite inflation. In September, total retail and food service sales rose more than 6 percent year-over-year, with food service spending up 7 percent and...
The Trump import plan for 300,000 MT of beef supplies used for ground beef, i.e., lean trim, from September through November has, according to Secretary Brooke Rollins, brought some relief to beef prices. The Executive Order states that the Secretary of Agriculture will analyze and review the m...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.