During the past several weeks the worldwide impact of the coronavirus and the resulting severe slowdown of economic activity have sent most financial markets spiraling lower. However, their decent has been accompanied by a sharp increase in volatility. Stock market indices have experienced almost unbelievably sharp spikes both up and down. While the Dow Jones Industrial Average was losing about a third of its value, it endured numerous daily swings in both directions of 1,000 or even 2,000 points. Gold prices and the U.S. dollar have surged higher as traders sought “safe havens” for their money. During the same period of time, grain and soy futures markets have been largely independent of the gyrating financial markets. Grain a...
Key Takeaways: Dry bulk markets remain mixed with Capesize vessels seeing continued pressure from weaker demand while fixtures and rate strength gradually increases towards the smaller vessel classes. Tanker markets are pulling back from their recent highs as tonnage moves out of the Mid...
The Trump import plan for 300,000 MT of beef supplies used for ground beef, i.e., lean trim, from September through November has, according to Secretary Brooke Rollins, brought some relief to beef prices. The Executive Order states that the Secretary of Agriculture will analyze and review the m...
Key Takeaways: Texas illustrates the assumptions underlying the 2025 FMMO reform; Idaho exposes their limitations. The Southwest order blend (roughly 27 percent Class I, 32 percent Class III and 31 percent Class IV) exposes Texas producers to every lever USDA adjusted, with a near-neutral proj...
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.