The CBOT opened with a defensive tone as position liquidation/short selling continued in the soybean pit and as traders exited largely profitable wheat positions. Some buy corn/sell soybeans or wheat trade existed early in the day, but corn eventually fell lower under widespread selling and position liquidation. The coronavirus is rapidly spreading in China and is heightening market nerves around the world. Markets hate uncertainty, and the CBOT ag markets are particularly sensitive to this outbreak due to the still-uncertain effects of the U.S.-China Phase One trade deal. The weekly Export Sales report from USDA held a friendly tone for ag commodities – including an impressive (for MY 2019/20, at least) sales volume for corn...
Key Takeaways: Dry bulk markets remain mixed with Capesize vessels seeing continued pressure from weaker demand while fixtures and rate strength gradually increases towards the smaller vessel classes. Tanker markets are pulling back from their recent highs as tonnage moves out of the Mid...
The Trump import plan for 300,000 MT of beef supplies used for ground beef, i.e., lean trim, from September through November has, according to Secretary Brooke Rollins, brought some relief to beef prices. The Executive Order states that the Secretary of Agriculture will analyze and review the m...
Key Takeaways: Texas illustrates the assumptions underlying the 2025 FMMO reform; Idaho exposes their limitations. The Southwest order blend (roughly 27 percent Class I, 32 percent Class III and 31 percent Class IV) exposes Texas producers to every lever USDA adjusted, with a near-neutral proj...
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.