Last year, cattle markets were driven by tight supplies of cattle, heavy carcass weights, low cow culling rates, higher input costs, more imports of feeder cattle, and the detection of New World Screwworm in Mexico in November. All were factors in record prices. The focus now turns to 2025, and how those factors will carry over.As WPI reported last week, entering 2025, meat demand (price times volume) remains strong. For hogs and pork, based on the latest Hogs and Pigs report (see WPI’s coverage here), the lower supply of heavy weight market hogs indicates slaughter in early 2025 will be lower, but the larger inventory of lighter weight market hogs indicates increased slaughter starting in Q2 2025. On the cattle and beef side, tight supplie...
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
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.