Macroeconomics Food Costs See Sharp Drop in July After a Sizable Uptick in June Food prices have whipsawed this summer after seeing a steady climb in Q2. After a 1 percent uptick in May, the average cost of food moved up 2.3 percent in June from the year prior. While pork prices fell by 7.2 percent in June, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, cooking oil, eggs, and milk saw year-on-year increases of 10.8 percent, 6.4 percent, .6 percent, and .4 percent, respectively. That upward trend quickly reversed course in July, as China’s overall economy hit the skids on declining consumer sentiment. Overall, food prices dropped by 1.7 percent last month from a year ago. Pork prices plummeted by 26 percent, year-on-year, underscoring t...
What You Need to Know Today: There has already been a strong run of flash soybean sales announcements in recent weeks, but more than 1.4 MMT reported this morning is an exceptionally large single-day total with major implications for the market. If the sales to China and unknown destinations w...
On Friday, at 6:57 AM, President Donald Trump announced, via a social media post, a 90-day window during which up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef could be imported outside of tariff-rate quotas—a move aimed at bringing down costs for American consumers. This is the secon...
From WPI Consulting
Weighing in on strategic realignment
WPI’s team was retained by the governing board of a U.S. industry organization to review a decision, reached by vote, to invest significant assets into the development and management of an export trading company. WPI’s team conducted a formal review of this decision and concluded that the current level of market saturation would limit the benefits of the investment. Based on WPI’s analysis and recommended actions, the board subsequently reversed its decision and undertook a strategic planning effort to identify more impactful investments. On behalf of numerous clients, WPI has not only assisted in identifying strategic paths but also advised their implementation.