Marco Trends February Economic Data Points to Serious Weakness Data from China’s National Bureau of Statistics indicates the country’s Purchasing Managers’ Index (PMI) fell to 49.2 percent last month, the lowest level since May 2017. It should be noted that a figure below 50 points to an economy in contraction. With the exception of 2017, February is usually a time of peak spending as it coincides with the Lunar New Year celebrations. On the consumer side, food costs were up just 0.7 percent from February 2018, a time when they were 4 percent higher than the year prior. Underscoring this decline was the average live pig price in China, which ended February at RMB 12.68/kg ($1.89/kg) or RMB 5.66/lb. ($0.84/lb.). That was...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.