Markets opened steady to higher Thursday evening and then strengthened at today’s opening. They found some short covering to end the week, but there was little fresh news. What news there was seemed to center on the growing size of the fund short in corn futures as well as wheat futures. The problem of course is that there still isn’t a trigger to cause any significant short covering by these funds. They are now estimated to be short 250,000 contracts of corn and 125,000 contracts of wheat while still holding a small net long of about 30,000 contracts of soybeans. There is some concern about extended forecasts showing weather turning drier in Argentina, but Brazil’s outlook looks good. A siege of very wet weather across e...
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
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.