This is a new era in energy and specifically crude oil, which is having an effect on total U.S. exports as well as those from the ag sector.USDA today released the February ag export and import figures, which show those exports down 16 percent in January and February 2016 compared with the same period last year. Meanwhile, ag imports were only 2 percent lower, resulting in a narrowing of agriculture’s trade surplus. The overall trade deficit for all good and services widened in February to a six-month high as imports grew faster than exports. The good news is that exports increased in February after four straight months of declines. Despite that gain, slower growth abroad and a stronger U.S. dollar have slowed exports over the past year wit...
What You Need to Know Today: Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans continued to accelerate, with USDA reporting another 558 KMT sold to China and 236 KMT to unknown destinations. Combined with sales announced Wednesday and Thursday, the latest purchases bring the three-day total to approximately...
As fall begins, wild migratory birds are starting their seasonal migration. That has the industry and government officials worried about the potential spread, again, of highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI). Some members of Congress have called for the United States to be prepared for a pote...
From WPI Consulting
Communicating importance of value-added products
Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.