World Perspectives
biofuel energy

COVID Impact on Ethanol Triggered Thinking on Long Term Ethanol Demand

The current renewable fuel standard (RFS) went into place in 2008 after the legislation was passed in the 2007 Energy Independence and Security Act (EISA); that bill raised the biofuel obligations from the original 2005 Energy Policy Act’s initial RFS. Of course, COVID in 2020 had a major impact on fuel demand, which also adversely impacted biofuel demand. So far, the monthly average of vehicle miles traveled in 2020 is 6 percent below 2008, and still hasn’t recovered to the level of any month since 2008. To put it in further context, vehicle miles traveled in 2019 were 10 percent higher than in 2008. The drop is significant as the chart below shows. What is also at work, as the RFS faces its final two years of statutory volum...

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livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins were positive for the second straight week with holiday grilling demand supporting the beef market and packer profits. Packers have done an incredible job managing margins this summer and in just  three weeks swung from the deepest losses on record to well above breakev...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

CFTC COT Report Analysis

Monday’s delayed CFTC report showed managed money traders shifting from a neutral to a more bearish sentiment across the ag space. Funds added 63,000 contacts (360 percent) to their small net short across all ag futures last week and now hold a bearish position of 81,000 contracts short...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Grains Sink on Ideal Weather; Cattle Rally Despite Feeder Imports Resuming

Grain markets gapped-lower on the Sunday night opening after a weekend of uneventful and favorable weather that was absent of any significant trade news. The weakness continued into the day session with corn and soybeans turning in the biggest losses for the day as the weather outlook continues...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins were positive for the second straight week with holiday grilling demand supporting the beef market and packer profits. Packers have done an incredible job managing margins this summer and in just  three weeks swung from the deepest losses on record to well above breakev...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

CFTC COT Report Analysis

Monday’s delayed CFTC report showed managed money traders shifting from a neutral to a more bearish sentiment across the ag space. Funds added 63,000 contacts (360 percent) to their small net short across all ag futures last week and now hold a bearish position of 81,000 contracts short...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Grains Sink on Ideal Weather; Cattle Rally Despite Feeder Imports Resuming

Grain markets gapped-lower on the Sunday night opening after a weekend of uneventful and favorable weather that was absent of any significant trade news. The weakness continued into the day session with corn and soybeans turning in the biggest losses for the day as the weather outlook continues...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 7 July)

Update for 28 April 2025: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where o...

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From WPI Consulting

Communicating importance of value-added products

Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.

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