Berry Marttin at Rabobank notes that agricultural commodity prices have risen 28 percent over the past year and are 40 percent above pre-pandemic levels. Low stocks, ongoing production concerns, expensive inputs and strong consumer demand means that prices are not going to meaningfully decline anytime soon. However, the price increases in 2022 are unlikely to match those of 2021, which is why investors rebalance their portfolios each year. For example, soybeans rose 1 percent in value in 2021 but La Niña will dent supplies in 2022, which has prompted funds to recently double their long positions. Supplies of products like coffee and cocoa may stay tight but December 2022 lean hog futures are priced at a 10.5 percent discount t...
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
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.