The price of Renewable Identification Numbers (RINs) continues to generate a lot of attention these days. We first reported on the big bull rally in RIN prices on 26 February and again on 25 March, when the Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources wrote a letter to the Environmental Protection Agency to inquire about RIN prices and gasoline. Last week, two noteworthy papers on RINs were published: one by Iowa State Professor Bruce Babcock and the other by Goldman Sachs. Both focused on the potential shortage of RINS for 2014, the result of reduced ethanol production in 2013 and a growing ethanol mandate.For a number of years, corn ethanol production has been running above the mandated level, and that has provided bankable RINs. Ho...
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.