Anti-Antitrust After two juries failed to reach a verdict and a federal judge questioned further pursuit of the charge of price fixing, the U.S. Department of Justice nonetheless filed a third case against five poultry industry executives only to have a jury definitively acquit the industry leaders. Now food distribution behemoth Sysco (market share 42.69 percent) is claiming that the four largest meat packers colluded to fix beef prices. The Department of Justice has spent the past two years investigating the charge but has not yet issued any official report. Meanwhile, the Farm Action group and the Open Markets Institute issued a report that gave USDA’s efforts at promoting competition within agriculture a letter grade of D+. The p...
What You Need to Know Today: The hot, dry weather forecast continues to drive strength in grain futures with corn and soybeans hitting another day of strong gains. Monday’s Crop Progress and Conditions data were in line with market expectations and showed relatively few concerns for the...
Yesterday we wrote about the Q1 GDP numbers and the June employment reports in an article entitled Real GDP for Q1 Relying on AI Buildout, Held Back by Consumer Spending. That article mentioned that consumer spending had become a drag on GDP. Nonetheless, real GDP in Q1 was revised upward to 2...
Key Takeaways: The Middle East and North Africa's arid climate and limited water resources have created a structural dependence on imported wheat. Government wheat tenders in major importing countries serve as important benchmarks for global trade, providing insight into exporter competitivene...
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.