We tend to always focus on the major crops of wheat, corn and soybeans. Most analysts do that because those are the crops that have futures markets. They don't follow the other minor crops because the audience isn't big enough, and market information is not always easy to obtain. Even USDA's coverage of these crops can be sketchy. Here are some comments on malting barley and dry beans:
Anheuser-Busch started its new crop (2014) malting barley contracting in the past 10 days. It has been using a two-step approach. The first is an outright purchase contract between $5.50-5.60. The second is the use of an on-line auction of contracts. It initially used on-line price auctions a year ago to good success. Two of these reverse on-line auctio...
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 €...
Key Takeaways: The tariff burden rose sharply in 2025 and 2026: the effective rate on imports in HTS Chapters 1–24 increased from 1.53 percent in 2024 to 6.11 percent in 2025, before averaging 5.68 percent in January–August 2026. Headline rates tell only part of the story: exemptio...
