After inching their way up last week, Class III milk futures broke $20/cwt and stayed there today. Cheese prices remain strong, but with a big gap in the cheddar block and barrel prices. CME cash trade cheese prices closed today at $1.99/lb. for barrels and $2.6375/lb. for blocks – a spread of $0.6475/lb. Over most of the past 20 years, the per pound price between block and barrels has been very close, averaging a difference of about 1 cent. That started to change in 2017 when the spread began to increase. The average price spread for 2014-2016 was $0.0116 per pound. The spread increased to an average of $0.0946 per pound from 2017-2019 as barrel prices lagged behind block prices. The spread in the prices came from a number of market...
What You Need to Know Today: President Trump claimed the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran was over, as both sides accused one another of violating the terms of the agreement. Commercial vessels are increasingly steering clear of the Strait of Hormuz as security risks escalate following Iran...
Key Takeaways: The CME Group is launching new 90 percent Lean Beef and 50 percent Lean Beef futures and options contracts in July. There are five key factors that must be present in physical markets and futures contract specifications for futures contracts to become successful. The two l...
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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.