Last week's collapse in new crop futures markets followed by Friday's meltdown in old crop soybean futures has producers spooked for the first time since the beginning of the drought rally last June. The velocity of these market moves simply doesn't give anyone time to react, let alone step back and consider the longer-term implications of what just happened. The corn futures lost 40 cents last week, with December 2013 futures now nearly 80 cents off the highs of early December and 35 cents off the highs of last week. November soybean futures traded just above $13.50 a week ago and were traded at $12.63 this morning. Obviously, the market decided that old crop tightness is no longer a market factor; that summer weather across the Northern...
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
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.