We hesitate to belabor the series of reports from USDA last week. Yet we cannot stay away from them because of the changes forced upon the prevailing conventional fundamental analyses for U.S. grains and the soy complex. In a nutshell, last week's reports from USDA tore up and threw out most prevailing supply and demand analyses, including some of USDA's own analyses. And effectively, they challenged the markets to acknowledge the new realities and do something about them.It was the U.S. corn outlook that suffered the biggest jolt when 1 December corn stocks were revealed to be about 200 million bushels lower than expected. This forced the surprising conclusion that the amount of corn used/consumed during the first quarter of the 2012/13...
What You Need to Know Today: Cattle futures extended their sharp selloff Friday as weakening cash cattle prices, deteriorating feedlot profitability, and reduced packer demand continued to weigh on the market. The inability of futures to sustain a rally following last week's bullish Cattle on...
As predicted, the Federal Reserve held rates steady at the last meeting before the midterm elections, likely in part because of the election (see WPI 19 October and 22 September). The decision comes at the tail end of a midterm election cycle that has been marked by the two parties campaigning...
Key Takeaways: WPI’s new EU rapeseed crushing margin models point to weaker processing returns over the next four months due to higher rapeseed procurement costs and weaker product values. Statistical forecasts call for German crushing margins to decline from €181/MT to €...
From WPI Consulting
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.