Agricultural data have been around for almost as long as there have been markets, but the type of data and the amount have changed over time.
Whether its data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, satellite data that forecast weather or growing conditions, or any of the many daily, weekly or monthly reports, market participants sort through reems of information to give them insight on the market.
Ken Morrison, editor of Morrison on the Markets newsletter, says he uses several types of market data to help confirm (or contradict) information he gathers from his contacts, helping him make decisions.
A lot of the data he uses are quantitative, such as weekly export sales, monthly USDA supply and demand reports, the weekly Commitment of Traders report from the Commodity Futures Trading Commission and the CME Ag Daily Bulletin. But he says it’s also good to get qualitative information about other countries. For that he uses the USDA’s attache reports from the Foreign Agricultural Service. In addition to giving data on a certain region’s agricultural production, the in-country attache at the U.S. embassy also offers perspective........
