Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS Saudi Arabia is adjusting its wheat import requirements for implementation as of the next tender. Traders expect that a change in the bug damage limitation will allow Russia to take a large share of the Saudi wheat business, particularly since its FOB prices are very competitive and ocean freight costs likely lower than from other origins. Of course, the change in specifications will also allow tender offers from Ukraine, Romania and Bulgaria, which will make it all much more exciting However, even with the bug damage allowance at 0.5 percent (versus the current 0.0 percent), this may be too low for much of the Black Sea wheat supply. According to reports, Russia is trying to get the lim...
What You Need to Know Today: Agricultural commodities were mostly lower on the day, with red-hot soyoil a notable exception. Export sales were a bit underwhelming, particularly for corn with export sales down 52 percent week-over-week. The weakness in ag markets tracked crude oil weakness wit...
With the war in Iran affecting fuel and fertilizer prices, higher tariffs, weak commodity prices, ag labor constraints, and other factors, farm bankruptcies are now at a 6-year high, a signal of growing stress. During the month of April, 62 Chapter 12 bankruptcies were filed, which is a 1...
Food Inflation The Open Markets Institute, which is notably funded by several “anonymous” donors and liberal foundations, obtained a guest editorial in the New York Times in which they blame agribusiness concentration for higher grocery prices. This is their schtick and it is politi...
From WPI Consulting
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.