CBOT market dipped lower overnight, only to find end-user demand and some speculative buying. Any end-of-the-month selling pressure is now over, as is most of the rolling of March positions froward, which is helping futures stabilize. The South American weather forecast is worrisome for the corn crops there, which helped the CBOT move higher Tuesday. News of U.S. corn export sales to Japan were supportive, and rumors of Chinese interest in corn and soybean purchases was also supportive. Chinese buyers, and others, continue to use breaks in CBOT futures to fix basis contracts or book new sales. Importantly, end-users have continued to scale up their pricing ideas, allowing support levels to inch higher in CBOT markets. Funds are thoug...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
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.