When African Swine Fever (ASW) struck China late last decade, animals were euthanized and actual swine numbers fell from their high by nearly 38 percent. Meanwhile, pork imports understandably rose dramatically to fill the void and consumer demand. Imports fell as the domestic herd recovered. Domestic pork output has been rising even as prices are reportedly falling. Meat production has been rising faster as productivity gains have meant more meat per pig. Pig producers are said to be losing money but they keep producing with the benefit of easy domestic credit. However, more notable is that pork import volume has begun rising despite the low domestic prices and record domestic production. But the value may be falling as prices have droppe...
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.
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...