U.S agricultural exports through May (the June data will be released on Thursday) show that among the 213 categories tracked for agriculture, exports are down year-to-date from last year by 8.5 percent in value, while imports are down 0.3 percent. Overall, that is a 4.4 percent drop in two-way trade. The ag trade balance is negative at $6.78 billion, or about 4 percent of the overall two-way value of trade at $159.69 billion. The ag trade balance was positive in 2022 and 2021 but was negative in 2020 and 2019 by less than half a million dollars compared to the current ag trade deficit. The overall U.S. balance of trade in goods and services, as opposed to the ag trade balance, saw the trade deficit in June fall to $65.5 billion as both imp...
What You Need to Know Today: Russia rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, including a proposal to halt attacks on civilian shipping that could help restore grain flows from Ukrainian ports. Tyson Foods announced plans to permanently close its Joslin, Illinois, beef processing facili...
The big news in the cattle markets yesterday was Tyson Foods’ move to close two more beef plants. One of them, the Joslin, Illinois, plant was shuttered immediately after the announcement. The other, in Eagle Mountain, Utah, is a case-ready plant that does not slaughter cattle. Tyson also...
The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the Consumer Price Index (CPI) on Wednesday. In July, the CPI rose 0.1 percent, seasonally adjusted, and rose 3.4 percent over the last 12 months, not seasonally adjusted. The index for all items less food and energy, or the “core” infla...
From WPI Consulting
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.