U.S. soybean exports via containers have been exceptionally strong this year, almost all destined to Asia with the key markets being Taiwan, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam and Malaysia, and shippers are citing one particular reason. Record Chinese Soybean Imports in July Reuters reported today that China imported 10.08 MMT of soybeans in July, up 31 percent versus June. That is a also record for any month and exceeds the previous high of 9.59 MMT set in May of this year. One reason for the surge was the government’s reduction of the value-added tax on soybeans from 13 percent to 11 percent on 1 July. This resulted in a delay in the discharge of several shiploads arriving late in June until after that date to take advantage of the lower tax...
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...
Monday, 25 May is a U.S. holiday, and both the markets and our office will be closed. Please note that the next issue of Ag Perspectives will be published on Tuesday, 26 May. The WPI staff wishes everyone a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend...
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...
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.