For the past few weeks, the soybean futures market has been living largely on hope. At this writing, the January soybean contract is at $8.815, down 1.75 cents from Monday’s close after trading as high as $8.9075 today. Meanwhile, cash basis bids for soybeans have been creeping higher from the recent historically low levels as processors and exporters try to pry soybeans loose from farmers intent on storing them with hope for better prices in the months ahead. Soybean futures prices in the range of $8.80-$8.90 may seem very low in absolute terms, but they are well above the recent low of $8.2275 in mid-September. They are more than 60 cents higher than two months ago even though USDA’s estimate of ending 2018/19 U.S. stocks hav...
What You Need to Know Today: After a period of limited activity, USDA reported a sizeable 613 KMT in soybean export sales, including 330 KMT to China and 283 KMT to unknown destinations, potentially also China. The purchases represent a meaningful pickup in demand and bring China closer to ful...
Key Takeaways: Consumer spending is a key driver of the U.S. economy, and the latest retail sales data indicate that spending remains robust despite inflation. In September, total retail and food service sales rose more than 6 percent year-over-year, with food service spending up 7 percent and...
The Trump import plan for 300,000 MT of beef supplies used for ground beef, i.e., lean trim, from September through November has, according to Secretary Brooke Rollins, brought some relief to beef prices. The Executive Order states that the Secretary of Agriculture will analyze and review the m...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.