After a week of anticipation, yesterday USDA Secretary Sonny Perdue announced that the $12 billion trade mitigation package that was expected today will instead be released on Monday. From his comments over the past month, the following is known:
Payments to commodity producers will total $7-9 billion. Trade promotion funding will be about $200 million. The remaining funds will go to commodity and food purchases for donations to food banks and other outlets, which simple arithmetic indicates will be somewhere between $2.8 and $4.8 billion.
Based on the above, the third-listed allocation has the biggest potential short-term market impact. Consider the total value of potential food purchases and the effect of the distribution of those...
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...
