USDA Notes: The 2019/20 outlook for U.S. soybeans is for higher supplies, crush, exports, and slightly lower ending stocks compared to 2018/19. The soybean crop is projected at 4,150 million bushels, down 394 million from last year’s record crop on lower harvested area and trend yields. With sharply higher beginning stocks, soybean supplies are projected at 5,165 million bushels, up 3 percent from 2018/19. U.S. soybean exports are forecast at 1,950 million bushels, up 175 million from the revised forecast for 2018/19. Despite limited growth in global soybean import demand, U.S. export share is expected to rise to 35 percent from the 2018/19 record low of 32 percent on higher supplies and competitive pric...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...