US government shutdown leaves traders without key agriculture data

Agricultural traders, farmers and analysts are without important data on world crop supply and demand as the US government shutdown has meant the absence of the monthly report which had been scheduled for Friday.

The US Department of Agriculture’s monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates, known as WASDE, is an important source of information for crop traders, providing supply, demand and inventory data for key US crops and that of key global players around the world.

“It’s nigh on impossible to trade US futures without US export sales knowledge and WASDE,” said Michael Magdovitz, analyst at Rabobank in London.

The January reports are also accompanied by quarterly grain inventory data, which impacts trading sentiment. According to recent research by US agricultural economists, the impact of the January reports on crop prices is significant compared to other months and has been increasing over time.

“We will be missing some of the most important information of the year from the USDA according to our research,” tweeted Scott Irwin at the University of Illinois and one of the authors of the report.

Private data companies and commodities brokers offer their own supply and demand and yield forecasts, but some agritech start-ups are also stepping up to the plate.

Gro Intelligence, an agricultural data platform, has been offering free subscriptions to its web app after the US government shutdown and will be releasing crop forecasts today.

Indigo Ag, a US start-up, has also released its corn and soyabean yield and production forecasts. The company, which offers a wide range of services including crop microbials and a digital market place for farmers, recently a acquired satellite imaging and machine learning platform with yield prediction capabilities.