It seems that there is a greater-than-usual fascination with the question of what the 2016 U.S. corn and soybean yields will ultimately turn out to be, which can be attributed to a number of factors.USDA’s first real estimates of average U.S. corn and soybean yields in the August WASDE were seen as surprising, to say the least. This was especially true of the 175.1 bushels/acre estimate for corn, which would blow away the old record of 171 bushels/acre if realized. To increase the national average yield record by 4.1 bushels would be a huge jump, particularly for a hot weather year like 2016. Perhaps it might seem less startling to look at it in terms of a percentage as 2.4 percent seems to have a more moderate cast to it.USDA’s estimated s...
What You Need to Know Today: Russia rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, including a proposal to halt attacks on civilian shipping that could help restore grain flows from Ukrainian ports. Tyson Foods announced plans to permanently close its Joslin, Illinois, beef processing facili...
The big news in the cattle markets yesterday was Tyson Foods’ move to close two more beef plants. One of them, the Joslin, Illinois, plant was shuttered immediately after the announcement. The other, in Eagle Mountain, Utah, is a case-ready plant that does not slaughter cattle. Tyson also...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...
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.