Large U.S. Export Sales Today's USDA export sales report once again showed U.S. exporters made large sales last week. The report indicated U.S. exporters sold 926,200 MT of soybeans for shipment in 2011/12 and 483,000 MT for shipment in 2012/13, which exceeded trade expectations. As usual, the largest buyer was China at 603,800 MT for the current marketing year and 365,000 MT for 2012/13. Other significant buyers were unknown destinations, Mexico, Japan and Taiwan.U.S. soymeal export sales last week totaled 221,100 MT for 2011/12 and 11,700 MT for 2012/13. The main buyers were the Philippines, Ireland, Peru and Latvia.U.S. soybean and soymeal export sales have picked up noticeably in the last few weeks as foreign buyers turn to the U.S...
Key Takeaways: President Trump announced $8 billion in additional agricultural assistance through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, as USDA projects farm fuel and oil expenses will increase 28.8 percent in 2026. The package follows $12 billion in earlier relief, while government farm payments w...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
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.