There have been several important news stories from China in recent days, but the one that deserves more chatter suggests the country might be considering important changes to its farm subsidy programs.You can't turn around these days without someone making a fresh observation or prediction about what might or will happen in China and how that will impact commodity agricultural markets. Soybeans carry the most risk of a collapse there because 65 percent of the world's soybean exports now go to China. USDA is forecasting its soybean imports at 79 MMT in MY 2015/16, which is 25 percent of total world production. China is a very big deal in the world oilseeds market. The chart below shows the tremendous growth in its soybean imports. Note that...
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...
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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.