Demonopolization China steadfastly refuses to reduce the number of state-owned enterprises operating in its economy. This reflects its internal politics and patronage. However, it might want to look at similar demonopolization efforts in other countries. As part of its economic reform, Saudi Arabia is moving forward with privatizing various government entities, including the grain agency SAGO. It will sell off the silos and grain but keep subsidies to reduce the cost of food. Under SAGO, the government had pursued unproductive initiatives such as trying to grow wheat in the desert. Bogeyman Strikes Again A bogeyman is a mythical creature intended to frighten people. The modern-day bogeyman in agriculture is the herbicide gl...
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.
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...