The CBOT ended sharply higher on Wednesday with corn and wheat leading the way. Higher energy values helped soyoil futures score new contract highs, despite the recent pullback in European sunoil and rapeseed oil values. Wednesday was the last day of the Goldman and index fund rolls, which means spreads will again return to being more reflective of commercial supply/demand expectations. Some profit taking also developed on Wednesday as traders pare risk heading into the long holiday weekend. Note that the CBOT/CME markets will be closed on Friday, 15 April in observance of the Good Friday holiday. Funds were net sellers of soybeans for the day with brokers estimating they liquidated some 4,000 contracts of their long position. Manage...
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.