By Adam Graves, Global Risk Management Inc. Cocoa futures prices can be very susceptible to volatile movement stemming from headlines that appear to impact supply and demand due to the infrequent nature of data and information released by official sources. Over the last two weeks as it neared delivery, the December’20 cocoa futures contract rallied  Continue Reading »

By Michael Irgang, Global Risk Management Inc. Pork production is largely a function of live hog weights and the number of animals slaughtered in packing facilities. It is interesting to review how live hog weights actually translate to the amount of pork supplies actually produced for consumption. A live hog weighing 290 lbs. can be  Continue Reading »

Global Risk Management, Inc. (June 23, 2016) With U.S. corn and soybean crops in the midst of the always volatile and unpredictable growing season, the only thing certain with this year’s crop at this point is uncertainty itself! Market participants anxiously await the latest and greatest weather model runs released by various meteorologists in what  Continue Reading »

March 18, 2016 (USDA) – Ethanol production in the United States is based almost entirely on corn as a feedstock. Corn‑based ethanol production is projected to fall over the next 10 years. This reflects declining overall gasoline consumption in the United States (which is mostly a 10‑percent ethanol blend, E10), infrastructural and other constraints on growth  Continue Reading »

By Mayank Bhardwaj and Naveen Thukral | February 16, 2016 (Reuters) – As India prepares to import corn for the first time in 16 years, at least one stipulation in its international tender has become much tougher to meet – that shipments of the crop are completely free of genetically modified organisms (GMOs). The Asian country  Continue Reading »

By Paul R. La Monica | February 1 (CNN Money, CNN.com) The cause of the outbreak is still unknown. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention indicated that it was likely due to “a common meal item or ingredient” served at the popular Mexican food chain. “When a restaurant serves foods with several ingredients that  Continue Reading »

July 20, 2015 (United States Department of Agriculture) – U.S. farmers have adopted genetically engineered (GE) seeds in the 20 years since their commercial introduction, despite their typically higher prices. Herbicide-tolerant (HT) crops, developed to survive the application of specific herbicides that previously would have destroyed the crop along with the targeted weeds, provide farmers  Continue Reading »

March 18, 2015 (United States Department of Agriculture) – Economic recovery since the Great Recession—which officially ran from December 2007 to June 2009—was slow, particularly for the labor market; the 8.7 million jobs lost during the recession were not recovered until May 2014. Tough economic times caused consumers to adjust their spending on discretionary items,  Continue Reading »

By Paul Peterson | March 4, 2015 (farmdoc daily) – CME Group’s recent announcement regarding the scheduled July 2 closing of most futures trading pits has triggered a range of reactions. News stories have covered related issues such as displaced floor traders and the effect on membership or “seat” prices, but there has been little  Continue Reading »

By Lydia Mulvany | Nov 20, 2014 (Bloomberg) – Eating ham has never been more expensive than this year, partly because U.S. pigs are too fat. Hogs in the U.S. weigh the most ever after farmers fed them longer to make up for losses caused by a virus that killed millions of piglets. While heavier hogs means more pork  Continue Reading »