USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report was released today. Total cattle on feed amounted to 11.4 million head, 99 percent of last year. Total placements were down 8 percent and below the average pre-report estimate. Those lighter placements were partially due to diminished supplies caused by a ban on live cattle imports from Mexico because of the New World screwworm. On a state-by-state basis, placements fell 85,000 head in Texas (83 percent of a year ago), 50,000 head in Colorado (71 percent), 15,000 head in Kansas (97 percent) and 10,000 head in “other states.” Nebraska placements were equal to May 2024. While several states continue to see inventory well below 2024 with Texas at 93 p...
Key Market Insights Geopolitical Limbo: Geopolitical risk remained a key driver across global commodity markets today. President Trump stated that the Iran memorandum of understanding is not yet final and warned that military action could resume if negotiations fail. Both sides continue w...
Key Takeaways: Drought remains a major threat to global agricultural production, particularly in regions with limited rainfall and growing water scarcity. Commercially available drought-tolerant traits in corn, soybeans, and wheat have generally delivered modest yield improvements, limiting th...
Key Takeaways: Peace at last in the Persian Gulf? Over the weekend, the U.S. announced and Iranian officials confirmed a peace agreement, with formal ratification set for Geneva on 19 June. The announcement means the Strait of Hormuz is set to reopen fully and toll-free within 30 days.&n...
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.