China is in its holiday season; first was the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year, on 22 December. Next is the Lunar New Year which begins on 10 February. Both traditionally mark seasonal demand for pork. We know that last year, after extended COVID lockdowns through 2022, the 2023 Lunar New year demand was disappointing compared to what was expected. Consumers were focused on saving money or were staying home still sick with COVID. The next 30-45 days will be interesting to watch to see if holiday pork demand grows. So far, the situation has been bearish. Pork prices ended 2023 at about ¥24.60/kg, which is a 25.5 percent drop for the year. The official November CPI for pork shows a drop of 31.8 percent. The Chinese gov...
The corn and soy complex closed higher, with the wheat market mixed, as winter wheat closed up but spring wheat and livestock ended lower. Part of the strength for corn and soybeans may have been a weather premium, as crop planting has started out fast but warm weather has been slow to develop...
Real GDP grew at a 2 percent annual rate in the first quarter of 2026, slightly below the consensus expectation of 2.3 percent but above the 0.5 percent growth in Q4 2025. The GDP number matches the average annualized pace of growth since the peak back in late 2007, right before the Financial P...
Reflect for a moment on what you eat. There is a lot of advice out there in the ether about what you should eat, but really, what do you currently eat and how much? The good people at the USDA have some data for you, to help you answer that question. USDA says that we eat quite a bit of meat. L...
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