Higher Prices Needed to Ration Soybean Demand Last week's export sales report and this week's NOPA crush report shows the pace of U.S. soybean use is quickening, not slowing. Soybean export sales last week totaled 1,319,400 MT, a marketing year high. China was the main buyer, with purchases totaling 1,008,800 MT. The sales brought U.S. total soybean export sales thus far in 2012/13 to 28.414 MMT (1.044 billion bushels). That's 77.6 percent of USDA's forecast for exports in all of 2012/13, and we are only one-fourth of the way through the marketing year. This does not count the 91,000 MT of soybeans sold to unknown buyers for shipment in 2012/13 that USDA reported this week. It is still at least three months before large shipments of new...
What You Need to Know Today: U.S. weather is getting more attention this week as conditions vary greatly across the western, central, and eastern corn belts, with the different regions battling dryness and too much rain simultaneously. The ProFarmer Crop Tour began today in Indiana and Nebrask...
Key Takeaways: Argentina is on pace for a record corn crop and record exports in the current marketing year, with abundant supplies likely to keep the country highly competitive in global export markets. Argentina’s record exportable surplus is allowing it to offer highly competitive pri...
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.