Macroeconomics Food Inflation Up in May, First Time Since January With live hog and retail pork prices nosediving, food inflation remained in negative territory from February through April. Despite rising prices for vegetable oil, eggs, fresh vegetable, and fresh fruit during that period, the drop in pork prices at the retail level more than offset the increases. That changed in May. In the aggregate, food prices last month were up by .3 percent from May 2020. Leading the uptick were fresh vegetables, eggs, fresh fruit, cooking oil, and dairy products, which jumped by 5.4 percent, 14.3 percent, 1.4 percent, 8.2 percent, and 2.3 percent, respectively. Pork prices fell by 23.8 percent from a year ago. Outside of food infl...
What You Need to Know Today: The corn and soybean markets closed slightly higher in low-volume trade. The wheat market was mixed, with HRW continuing its downward trek on improved moisture. As expected, the bearish cattle on feed report drove down cattle prices and pulled hogs down with it. Mi...
USDA’s monthly cattle on feed report was released today. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity amounted to 11.6 million head, 102 percent of last year. Source: USDA, WPI Placements were up, but part of that is attributable to persistent drought c...
Let’s return briefly to the fake meat hype cycle, now sitting somewhere in a dusty corner of your mind, not entirely forgotten. What happened to all those products, known as plant-based alternative proteins? They were supposed to be as good as real meat—cheaper, more environmentally...
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.