USDA made several changes a week ago to its supply/demand estimates for the U.S. and the world that were unusual for a February WASDE. With South American harvests just underway at this time and Northern Hemisphere supplies/demand patterns/trade flows well in place, revisions made in February WASDEs are typically limited and unsurprising. In that sense, those in the current issue were more interesting and drew greater attention than normal. The February changes that grabbed the market’s attention were a larger-than-expected increase for U.S. corn exports and the reduction of U.S. soybean exports plus revised Brazilian and Argentine production estimates. While the direction of the changes was not surprising, the sizes of some were not...
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
Weighing in on strategic realignment
WPI’s team was retained by the governing board of a U.S. industry organization to review a decision, reached by vote, to invest significant assets into the development and management of an export trading company. WPI’s team conducted a formal review of this decision and concluded that the current level of market saturation would limit the benefits of the investment. Based on WPI’s analysis and recommended actions, the board subsequently reversed its decision and undertook a strategic planning effort to identify more impactful investments. On behalf of numerous clients, WPI has not only assisted in identifying strategic paths but also advised their implementation.