IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/p/ags/nccsci/37577.html
   My bibliography  Save this paper

Outlook vs. Futures: Three Decades of Evidence in Hog and Cattle Markets

Author

Listed:
  • Colino, Evelyn V.
  • Irwin, Scott H.

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to provide a comprehensive evaluation of the accuracy of outlook forecasts relative to futures prices in hog and cattle markets. Published forecasts from four prominent livestock outlook programs are available for analysis. Most of the series begin in the mid- to late-1970s and end in 2006. Root mean squared error (RMSE) comparisons indicate, with one exception, no meaningful differences in forecast accuracy between outlook forecasts and futures prices. The null hypothesis that futures prices encompass outlook forecasts is rejected in 9 of 11 cases for hogs and 7 of 8 cases for cattle, clearly indicating that outlook forecasts provide incremental information not contained in futures prices. The magnitude of decline in RMSE from combining outlook forecasts and futures prices is non-trivial in almost all cases. The reduction in RMSE for composite forecasts averages -6.3% and -9.0% in hogs and cattle, respectively. Overall, the results of this study provide compelling evidence of the substantial economic value of public outlook programs in cattle and hogs.

Suggested Citation

  • Colino, Evelyn V. & Irwin, Scott H., 2007. "Outlook vs. Futures: Three Decades of Evidence in Hog and Cattle Markets," 2007 Conference, April 16-17, 2007, Chicago, Illinois 37577, NCCC-134 Conference on Applied Commodity Price Analysis, Forecasting, and Market Risk Management.
    • Handle: RePEc:ags:nccsci:37577
    DOI: 10.22004/ag.econ.37577
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://ageconsearch.umn.edu/record/37577/files/confp21-07.pdf
    Download Restriction: no
    File URL: https://libkey.io/10.22004/ag.econ.37577?utm_source=ideas
    LibKey link: if access is restricted and if your library uses this service, LibKey will redirect you to where you can use your library subscription to access this item
    ---><---

    Other versions of this item:

    References listed on IDEAS

    as
    1. Kastens, Terry L. & Jones, Rodney D. & Schroeder, Ted C., 1998. "Futures-Based Price Forecasts For Agricultural Producers And Businesses," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 23(1), pages 1-14, July.
    2. Manfredo, Mark R. & Sanders, Dwight R., 2004. "The Value of Public Price Forecasts: Additional Evidence in the Live Hog Market," Journal of Agribusiness, Agricultural Economics Association of Georgia, vol. 22(2), pages 1-13.
    3. Brian D. Adam & Philip Garcia & Robert J. Hauser, 1996. "The Value of Information to Hedgers in the Presence of Futures and Options," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 18(3), pages 437-447.
    4. Harvey, David I & Leybourne, Stephen J & Newbold, Paul, 1998. "Tests for Forecast Encompassing," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 16(2), pages 254-259, April.
    5. Hoffman, Linwood A., 2004. "Using Futures Prices To Forecast The Season-Average U.S. Corn Prices," 2004 Conference, April 19-20, 2004, St. Louis, Missouri 19020, NCR-134 Conference on Applied Commodity Price Analysis, Forecasting, and Market Risk Management.
    6. Richard E. Just, 1983. "The Impact of Less Data on the Agricultural Economy and Society," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 65(5), pages 872-881.
    7. Brorsen, B. Wade & Irwin, Scott H., 1996. "Improving The Relevance Of Research On Price Forecasting And Marketing Strategies," Agricultural and Resource Economics Review, Northeastern Agricultural and Resource Economics Association, vol. 25(1), pages 1-8, April.
    8. Diebold, Francis X & Mariano, Roberto S, 2002. "Comparing Predictive Accuracy," Journal of Business & Economic Statistics, American Statistical Association, vol. 20(1), pages 134-144, January.
    9. Mr. Aasim M. Husain & Chakriya Bowman, 2004. "Forecasting Commodity Prices: Futures Versus Judgment," IMF Working Papers 2004/041, International Monetary Fund.
    10. Sanders, Dwight R. & Manfredo, Mark R., 2003. "USDA Livestock Price Forecasts: A Comprehensive Evaluation," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 28(2), pages 1-19, August.
    11. Lawrence, John D. & Grimes, Glenn, 2007. "Production and Marketing Characteristics of U.S. Pork Producers, 2006," Staff General Research Papers Archive 12828, Iowa State University, Department of Economics.
    12. Richard E. Just & Gordon C. Rausser, 1981. "Commodity Price Forecasting with Large-Scale Econometric Models and the Futures Market," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 63(2), pages 197-208.
    13. Harvey, David & Leybourne, Stephen & Newbold, Paul, 1997. "Testing the equality of prediction mean squared errors," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 13(2), pages 281-291, June.
    14. Dwight R. Sanders & Mark R. Manfredo, 2005. "Forecast Encompassing as the Necessary Condition to Reject Futures Market Efficiency: Fluid Milk Futures," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 87(3), pages 610-620.
    15. Ashley, Richard, 2003. "Statistically significant forecasting improvements: how much out-of-sample data is likely necessary?," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 19(2), pages 229-239.
    16. Donald N. McCloskey, 1992. "The Art of Forecasting: From Ancient to Modern Times," Cato Journal, Cato Journal, Cato Institute, vol. 12(1), pages 23-48, Spring/Su.
    17. Tonsor, Glynn T. & Dhuyvetter, Kevin C. & Mintert, James R., 2004. "Improving Cattle Basis Forecasting," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 29(2), pages 1-14, August.
    18. Victoria Salin & Amy P. Thurow & Katherine R. Smith & Nicole Elmer, 1998. "Exploring the Market for Agricultural Economics Information: Views of Private Sector Analysts," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 20(1), pages 114-124.
    19. William G. Tomek, 1997. "Commodity Futures Prices as Forecasts," Review of Agricultural Economics, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association, vol. 19(1), pages 23-44.
    20. Bessler, David A. & Brandt, Jon A., 1992. "An analysis of forecasts of livestock prices," Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization, Elsevier, vol. 18(2), pages 249-263, July.
    Full references (including those not matched with items on IDEAS)

    Citations

    Citations are extracted by the CitEc Project, subscribe to its RSS feed for this item.
    as


    Cited by:

    1. Xiaojie Xu, 2017. "Short-run price forecast performance of individual and composite models for 496 corn cash markets," Journal of Applied Statistics, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 44(14), pages 2593-2620, October.
    2. Colino, Evelyn V. & Irwin, Scott H. & Garcia, Philip, 2009. "Do Composite Procedures Really Improve the Accuracy of Outlook Forecasts?," 2009 Conference, April 20-21, 2009, St. Louis, Missouri 53052, NCCC-134 Conference on Applied Commodity Price Analysis, Forecasting, and Market Risk Management.
    3. Xiaojie Xu, 2019. "Price dynamics in corn cash and futures markets: cointegration, causality, and forecasting through a rolling window approach," Financial Markets and Portfolio Management, Springer;Swiss Society for Financial Market Research, vol. 33(2), pages 155-181, June.
    4. Verteramo Chiu, Leslie J. & Tomek, William G., 2016. "Anticipatory Signals of Changes in Corn Demand," Working Papers 250032, Cornell University, Department of Applied Economics and Management.
    5. Xu Xiaojie, 2018. "Using Local Information to Improve Short-Run Corn Price Forecasts," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, January.
    6. Tannura, Michael A. & Irwin, Scott H. & Good, Darrel L., 2008. "Weather, Technology, and Corn and Soybean Yields in the U.S. Corn Belt," Marketing and Outlook Research Reports 37501, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics.
    7. Colino, Evelyn V. & Irwin, Scott H. & Garcia, Philip, 2008. "How Much Can Outlook Forecasts be Improved? An Application to the U.S. Hog Market," 2008 Conference, April 21-22, 2008, St. Louis, Missouri 37620, NCCC-134 Conference on Applied Commodity Price Analysis, Forecasting, and Market Risk Management.
    8. J. Yang & J. Beirne & G. Liu & P. Sheng, 2013. "Labour supply and pollution in China," Applied Economics Letters, Taylor & Francis Journals, vol. 20(10), pages 949-952, July.
    9. Irwin, Scott H. & Sanders, Dwight R. & Good, Darrel L., 2014. "Evaluation of Selected USDA WAOB and NASS Forecasts and Estimates in Corn and Soybeans," Marketing and Outlook Research Reports 183477, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Department of Agricultural and Consumer Economics.
    10. Ates, Aaron M. & Lusk, Jayson L. & Brorsen, B. Wade, 2019. "Forecasting Meat Prices Using Consumer Expectations from the Food Demand Survey (FooDS)," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 50(1), March.
    11. Verteramo Chiu, Leslie & Tomek, William, 2016. "Anticipatory Signals of Changes in U.S. Corn Demand," 2016 Annual Meeting, July 31-August 2, Boston, Massachusetts 235869, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    12. Bekkerman, Anton & Brester, Gary W. & Taylor, Mykel, 2016. "Forecasting a Moving Target: The Roles of Quality and Timing for Determining Northern U.S. Wheat Basis," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(1), pages 1-17, January.
    13. Paolo Libenzio Brignoli & Alessandro Varacca & Cornelis Gardebroek & Paolo Sckokai, 2024. "Machine learning to predict grains futures prices," Agricultural Economics, International Association of Agricultural Economists, vol. 55(3), pages 479-497, May.
    14. Verteramo Chiu, Leslie J. & Tomek, William G., 2017. "Insights from Anticipatory Prices," 2017 Annual Meeting, July 30-August 1, Chicago, Illinois 258115, Agricultural and Applied Economics Association.
    15. Xiaojie Xu, 2020. "Corn Cash Price Forecasting," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(4), pages 1297-1320, August.
    16. Etienne, Xiaoli L. & Farhangdoost, Sara & Hoffman, Linwood A. & Adam, Brian D., 2023. "Forecasting the U.S. season-average farm price of corn: Derivation of an alternative futures-based forecasting model," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    17. Xiaojie Xu, 2018. "Cointegration and price discovery in US corn cash and futures markets," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 55(4), pages 1889-1923, December.
    18. Elham Rahmani & Mohammad Khatami & Emma Stephens, 2024. "Using Probabilistic Machine Learning Methods to Improve Beef Cattle Price Modeling and Promote Beef Production Efficiency and Sustainability in Canada," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 16(5), pages 1-19, February.

    Most related items

    These are the items that most often cite the same works as this one and are cited by the same works as this one.
    1. Colino, Evelyn V. & Irwin, Scott H. & Garcia, Philip, 2008. "How Much Can Outlook Forecasts be Improved? An Application to the U.S. Hog Market," 2008 Conference, April 21-22, 2008, St. Louis, Missouri 37620, NCCC-134 Conference on Applied Commodity Price Analysis, Forecasting, and Market Risk Management.
    2. Ates, Aaron M. & Lusk, Jayson L. & Brorsen, B. Wade, 2019. "Forecasting Meat Prices Using Consumer Expectations from the Food Demand Survey (FooDS)," Journal of Food Distribution Research, Food Distribution Research Society, vol. 50(1), March.
    3. Sanders, Dwight R. & Garcia, Philip & Manfredo, Mark R., 2008. "Information Content in Deferred Futures Prices: Live Cattle and Hogs," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 33(1), pages 1-12, April.
    4. Etienne, Xiaoli L. & Farhangdoost, Sara & Hoffman, Linwood A. & Adam, Brian D., 2023. "Forecasting the U.S. season-average farm price of corn: Derivation of an alternative futures-based forecasting model," Journal of Commodity Markets, Elsevier, vol. 30(C).
    5. Manfredo, Mark R. & Sanders, Dwight R., 2004. "Forecast Encompassing And Futures Market Efficiency: The Case Of Milk Futures," 2004 Annual meeting, August 1-4, Denver, CO 20267, American Agricultural Economics Association (New Name 2008: Agricultural and Applied Economics Association).
    6. Harvey, David I. & Leybourne, Stephen J. & Whitehouse, Emily J., 2017. "Forecast evaluation tests and negative long-run variance estimates in small samples," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 33(4), pages 833-847.
    7. repec:lan:wpaper:470 is not listed on IDEAS
    8. Thomas A. Knetsch, 2005. "Evaluating the German Inventory Cycle Using Data from the Ifo Business Survey," Contributions to Economics, in: Jan-Egbert Sturm & Timo Wollmershäuser (ed.), Ifo Survey Data in Business Cycle and Monetary Policy Analysis, pages 61-92, Springer.
    9. Xu Xiaojie, 2018. "Using Local Information to Improve Short-Run Corn Price Forecasts," Journal of Agricultural & Food Industrial Organization, De Gruyter, vol. 16(1), pages 1-15, January.
    10. Brooks, Chris & Burke, Simon P. & Stanescu, Silvia, 2016. "Finite sample weighting of recursive forecast errors," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 32(2), pages 458-474.
    11. repec:onb:oenbwp:y::i:91:b:1 is not listed on IDEAS
    12. Bekkerman, Anton & Brester, Gary W. & Taylor, Mykel, 2016. "Forecasting a Moving Target: The Roles of Quality and Timing for Determining Northern U.S. Wheat Basis," Journal of Agricultural and Resource Economics, Western Agricultural Economics Association, vol. 41(1), pages 1-17, January.
    13. Tao Xiong & Miao Li & Jia Cao, 2023. "Do Futures Prices Help Forecast Spot Prices? Evidence from China’s New Live Hog Futures," Agriculture, MDPI, vol. 13(9), pages 1-16, August.
    14. Xiaojie Xu, 2020. "Corn Cash Price Forecasting," American Journal of Agricultural Economics, John Wiley & Sons, vol. 102(4), pages 1297-1320, August.
    15. Moser, Gabriel & Rumler, Fabio & Scharler, Johann, 2007. "Forecasting Austrian inflation," Economic Modelling, Elsevier, vol. 24(3), pages 470-480, May.
    16. repec:lan:wpaper:425 is not listed on IDEAS
    17. repec:lan:wpaper:539557 is not listed on IDEAS
    18. repec:lan:wpaper:413 is not listed on IDEAS
    19. Fildes, Robert & Stekler, Herman, 2002. "The state of macroeconomic forecasting," Journal of Macroeconomics, Elsevier, vol. 24(4), pages 435-468, December.
    20. Sanders, Dwight R. & Manfredo, Mark R., 2006. "Forecasting Basis Levels in the Soybean Complex: A Comparison of Time Series Methods," Journal of Agricultural and Applied Economics, Cambridge University Press, vol. 38(3), pages 513-523, December.
    21. Ard H.J. den Reijer, 2005. "Forecasting Dutch GDP using Large Scale Factor Models," DNB Working Papers 028, Netherlands Central Bank, Research Department.
    22. Goodness C. Aye & Stephen M. Miller & Rangan Gupta & Mehmet Balcilar, 2016. "Forecasting US real private residential fixed investment using a large number of predictors," Empirical Economics, Springer, vol. 51(4), pages 1557-1580, December.
    23. Costantini, Mauro & Pappalardo, Carmine, 2010. "A hierarchical procedure for the combination of forecasts," International Journal of Forecasting, Elsevier, vol. 26(4), pages 725-743, October.
    24. ALBULESCU, Claudiu Tiberiu & Pepin, Dominique, 2018. "Monetary Integration, Money-Demand Stability, and the Role of Monetary Overhang in Forecasting Inflation in CEE Countries," Journal of Economic Integration, Center for Economic Integration, Sejong University, vol. 33(4), pages 841-879.
    25. Jesus Crespo Cuaresma & Jaroslava Hlouskova & Michael Obersteiner, 2021. "Agricultural commodity price dynamics and their determinants: A comprehensive econometric approach," Journal of Forecasting, John Wiley & Sons, Ltd., vol. 40(7), pages 1245-1273, November.

    More about this item

    Statistics

    Access and download statistics

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:ags:nccsci:37577. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    If CitEc recognized a bibliographic reference but did not link an item in RePEc to it, you can help with this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: AgEcon Search (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://edirc.repec.org/data/dauiuus.html .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.