Market participants had plenty to think about today. In an anticipated speech, China’s President Xi said that he favored cutting tariffs on auto imports and other products, protecting intellectual property rights of foreign companies, and increasing imports as a way of expanding balanced globalization. These goals all sound good, but they echo comments Chinese officials have made before and on which nothing has happened. Nevertheless, most markets welcomed Xi’s statements. Stocks jumped, crude oil and copper rallied, and soybean futures worked higher. Markets also noted USDA’s reports of large soybean export sales, including 279,000 MT to unknown for 2017/18, 132,000 MT to China for 2108/19 and 120,000 MT to Argentina (ye...
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
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.