It was a technical runup today that will correct lower but there is a Chinese curveball in play. The fundamentals remain weak – look at today’s Export Sales report. And Tuesday’s WASDE will reinforce this viewpoint. But now China is an interesting side play. The Middle Kingdom is now a punching bag in the U.S. presidential campaign. According to the left-leaning Pew Research, two-thirds of Americans have a negative view toward China. This has forced Democratic challenger Joe Biden to go from pro-engagement to trying to out-tough Donald Trump on the Middle Kingdom. Trying to out-tough Donald Trump means escalating the matter into a mixed martial arts contest. Mr. Biden’s most recent campaign ad said Donald Tru...
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.