There was an article making the rounds this week from Bloomberg, “There’s So Much Pain in Agriculture That Traders Are Leaving” (click here). It’s interesting, but some of the premises about the industry are flawed. Following are some examples:
The first premise is that big crops have taken away the volatility and therefore trading opportunities. We’ve really only had six or eight years of volatility (2006-2012 or so) over the past 30-100 years. Grain companies survived and prospered through mostly long periods of low volatility. Below is a long-term chart of corn futures. There wasn’t any volatility until the U.S. biofuels legislation turned corn consumption upside down. Long-term wheat and soybean ch...
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...
