The big development at the CBOT on Wednesday was the lower close and apparent “hook reversal” in wheat futures, which initially traded higher but settled in the red. After their meteoric rise, wheat futures now look “toppy” with traders unsure whether the fundamentals (especially in the U.S.) justify current valuations. In response, bulls were unwilling to chase the market on Wednesday, and wheat futures pulled back. While wheat was lower, the corn and soybean markets turned higher with soybeans receiving a boost from rumors that China booked somewhere between 2-8 vessels of soybeans from the PNW in recent days. The economics certainly justify such trades on paper, and that gave a boost to old crop markets. Co...
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.