World Perspectives

A Christmas Gift for France’s Farmers

There was an interesting news story from Paris, carried by Reuters in these last days before Christmas, entitled “France to raise minimum food prices, limit bargain sales.” That appears to be a rather non-descript headline until actually reading the story. In essence, the French government is moving to boost minimum food prices in an effort to raise farmers’ incomes. Not only that, it is also planning to regulate the level of discounts or sales prices that food retailers can use. The story stated the government will propose a 10 percent increase in the low-price threshold and a maximum discount of 34 percent on promotional (sales) offers. Wait, there’s more. No more than 25 percent of any one product’s volume c...

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From WPI Consulting

Infrastructure investment due diligence

On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.

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