Macroeconomics Food Costs See Sharp Drop in July After a Sizable Uptick in June Food prices have whipsawed this summer after seeing a steady climb in Q2. After a 1 percent uptick in May, the average cost of food moved up 2.3 percent in June from the year prior. While pork prices fell by 7.2 percent in June, fresh vegetables, fresh fruit, cooking oil, eggs, and milk saw year-on-year increases of 10.8 percent, 6.4 percent, .6 percent, and .4 percent, respectively. That upward trend quickly reversed course in July, as China’s overall economy hit the skids on declining consumer sentiment. Overall, food prices dropped by 1.7 percent last month from a year ago. Pork prices plummeted by 26 percent, year-on-year, underscoring t...
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.
The corn and soy complex closed higher, with the wheat market mixed, as winter wheat closed up but spring wheat and livestock ended lower. Part of the strength for corn and soybeans may have been a weather premium, as crop planting has started out fast but warm weather has been slow to develop...
Reflect for a moment on what you eat. There is a lot of advice out there in the ether about what you should eat, but really, what do you currently eat and how much? The good people at the USDA have some data for you, to help you answer that question. USDA says that we eat quite a bit of meat. L...
WPI recently completed an expansion of our methodology for estimating and forecasting U.S. and global soybean crushing margins. The new approach incorporates the energy market’s expanding influence on the oilseed sector and the structural changes in global biofuel demand. This report is i...