The CBOT opened on a strong note and moved higher for most of the day with the markets posting a mini rally following yesterday’s day of depressed trading. Wheat futures moved higher in a test of old support levels, which helped put a bid under corn as well. Outside markets were higher as fears over coronavirus-driven demand destruction are fading, which further boosted the CBOT’s good mood. Corn, wheat, the soy complex, and cattle futures all finished higher. China’s Phase One agreements, including reductions in SPS barriers and tariffs, will kick in on 15 February (Saturday), which could result in substantial buying in the near-term. With that possibility looming, traders are reluctant to be short this market, and...
Communicating importance of value-added products
Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.