Low levels of precipitation are affecting South Africa's intended maize plantings for 2016 as well as those of Zambia. With farmers in both countries expected to switch some of the land to oilseeds, the levels of maize imports are forecast to grow. Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS With the lifting of sanctions against Iran, the question now concerns where that country will be buying any future grain/oilseed/protein meal requirements. In recent weeks, European reps of international grain companies have made many trips there. Thus, it can be certain that the methods of doing more business in Iran have been worked out in great detail. Of course the sanctions removal will not guarantee that conducting business will be much...
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...
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.