Key Takeaways:
The United States shifted from a decades-long agricultural trade surplus to a growing deficit, reaching roughly forty-one to forty-four billion dollars in recent fiscal years, a structural change rather than a cyclical dip. Brazil has overtaken the United States as the leading soybean supplier in the world, backed by a deliberate national strategy of cropland expansion and logistics investment. Beef processing concentration is real, but the numbers vary by source and method, with the four largest packers commonly cited as controlling between seventy-five and eighty-five percent of United States slaughter. Scale economics in a capital-intensive industry are a major driver, alongside a more contested claim about market power o...
What You Need to Know Today: Corn and soybean futures were lower to open the week, with funds still in control and in a selling mood. The upcoming WASDE report on Tuesday is also likely to feature larger corn and soybean stocks, which helped put grain futures on the defensive. Wheat futures we...
Key Takeaways: Currency exchange rates influence agricultural export competitiveness and producer profitability, even when underlying commodity prices remain unchanged. A weaker domestic currency allows agricultural exporters to receive more local currency for dollar-denominated sales, potenti...
Although inflation has remained elevated since the post-COVID surge, it steadily moderated until the past year. More to the point, today’s inflation looks very different from 2022, when the Consumer Price Index (CPI) peaked at 9 percent. During and after the pandemic, the M2 money supply...
Soybeans Brazil Last week was once again very quiet, with very few trades. There is little activity in Brazil's old-crop market, with virtually no old-crop offers remaining for November. Brazil's export lineup for November and December is currently much smaller than last year's. After exporting...
