For some months now, the fertilizer industry has been full of anticipation for the U.S. 2012 spring planting season. The considerations were pretty simple, and so far they are playing out:
Because of very tight old crop (2011/12) supplies for U.S. corn, there would be a need for a very big 2012 corn planting to restock record low inventories. This would drive the big U.S. nitrogen demand; however, Once that crop is in the ground, attention will start shifting to the new crop supplies (2012/13), which may negatively affect intended acres for the next year (spring 2013!) and push down the anticipated nitrogen (refill) demand that comes with summer/fall 2012 and onwards.
Indeed, the U.S. has started planting a record-large corn crop. A...
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 €...
