Soybeans Market Overview The first week of the official U.S.-China trade war was very calm. With crush margins currently poor (using Brazilian soybeans), the Chinese are waiting before buying. It is clearly risky for a Chinese crusher to go long soybeans since the present Brazilian soybean basis can quickly drop on any sign of agreement between the U.S. and China. Since margins are poor, basis should drop as there’s no other destination that can pay close to what China can for Brazilian soybeans. This means when there is no demand from that country, basis is forced to drop. China needs to cover big volumes from September onward, but it is apparently either waiting for basis to fall or only buying in the very spot for now. U.S. soy...
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.