Grain and soy futures markets basically just marked time overnight and this morning until USDA released its quarterly stocks and prospective planting reports at noon (EDT). The lower-than-expected planting intentions for corn were a big surprise, but the lower soybean plantings were an even bigger one since an increase had been anticipated. An immediate wave of buy orders sent prices sharply higher. Soybean futures quickly traded up 24 cents as corn prices hit double-digit gains. Soybeans were up 32-33 cents at their highs, and corn prices peaked at 14-16 cents. May soybeans finally closed up 26.75 cents at $10.4475, and November was up 31.25 cents to close at $10.4775, a 3 cent premium to May. Soymeal also reacted strongly, closing up $12...
What You Need to Know Today: Russia rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, including a proposal to halt attacks on civilian shipping that could help restore grain flows from Ukrainian ports. Tyson Foods announced plans to permanently close its Joslin, Illinois, beef processing facili...
The big news in the cattle markets yesterday was Tyson Foods’ move to close two more beef plants. One of them, the Joslin, Illinois, plant was shuttered immediately after the announcement. The other, in Eagle Mountain, Utah, is a case-ready plant that does not slaughter cattle. Tyson also...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...
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.