There are some parallels to be drawn between the predicament that debt-laden commodity businesses find themselves in and our personal households. Although gross oversimplification is a risk, this is one way to examine the situation.
Commodity headlines this week are dominated by the free fall of Glencore stock as the company appears stuck between a rock (debt) and a hard place (the slowing economy in China undermining overall commodity prices). The problems faced by Glencore and similar businesses are complex, but the basic mechanism underlying them perhaps is not. There are some parallels to be drawn between the predicament that debt-laden commodity businesses find themselves in and our personal households. Although gross oversimplifica...
What You Need to Know Today: A third U.S. border crossing (Columbus, New Mexico) has reopened to Mexican cattle imports following nearly two years of restrictions related to New World screwworm. The reopening could gradually improve feeder cattle availability, although more than 60 confi...
Yesterday, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released a new report of negotiated cash purchases of cattle under the mandatory price report. The report included Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. The goal of the report was to solve the confidentiality issues e...
Key Takeaways: U.S. soybean crushing began in 1911 and saw its most rapid expansion during the 1930s amid the broader agricultural and technology revolutions of the time. After peaking in the early 2000s, the soybean crushing industry went through a downturn as poor crush margins forced...