World Perspectives
feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Commodities are in Vogue Again

In the 1840s, the ad hoc trading of physical lots of wheat, corn, rye, oats and hay on a street corner in Chicago eventually became transaction-based on standardized terms. That development allowed traders to buy and sell physical quantities of grain for delivery at specified times in the future rather than only for spot delivery. This then evolved into a formal futures market by the late 1860s under the auspices of the Chicago Board of Trade. The ability to buy/sell grain for future delivery and avoid the obligation to make or take actual delivery through opposite transactions effectively allowed traders to make bets on what prices would be at specified times in the future without ever owning the physical supplies that attracted speculator...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Cattle Extend Record Rally; Wheat Finds New Lows; Corn, Soyoil Collapse

The CBOT tried to rally overnight and posted some slight gains heading into the morning break, but thereafter the market quickly found selling pressure. Monday’s favorable Crop Progress and conditions report from USDA offered much of the justification for the selling pressure and helped s...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Jul 25 Corn closed at $4.7025/bushel, down $0.13 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Wheat closed at $5.255/bushel, down $0.055 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soybeans closed at $10.5275/bushel, down $0.0975 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soymeal closed at $298.2/short ton, up $2.3...

Trade War Positions

Canadians reacted with understandable revulsion to President Trump’s insults to their nation. In yesterday’s election, they were given two choices: elect Conservative Pierre Poilievre as prime minister who pledged to build a better and stronger nation, or choose Liberal Mark Carney...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Cattle Extend Record Rally; Wheat Finds New Lows; Corn, Soyoil Collapse

The CBOT tried to rally overnight and posted some slight gains heading into the morning break, but thereafter the market quickly found selling pressure. Monday’s favorable Crop Progress and conditions report from USDA offered much of the justification for the selling pressure and helped s...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Jul 25 Corn closed at $4.7025/bushel, down $0.13 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Wheat closed at $5.255/bushel, down $0.055 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soybeans closed at $10.5275/bushel, down $0.0975 from yesterday's close.  Jul 25 Soymeal closed at $298.2/short ton, up $2.3...

Trade War Positions

Canadians reacted with understandable revulsion to President Trump’s insults to their nation. In yesterday’s election, they were given two choices: elect Conservative Pierre Poilievre as prime minister who pledged to build a better and stronger nation, or choose Liberal Mark Carney...

Canadian Elections

Canadian voters went to the polls last night. They selected Mark Carney, the current Prime Minister, as the leader of the new government. The writ of election was issued just over a month ago, on 23 March, after Governor General Mary Simon accepted a request to dissolve parliament from Prime Mi...

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From WPI Consulting

Illuminating the value of technical research

On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.

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