The latest FAO report on Iran’s grain crops shows small increases for all in 2015 with both wheat and barley production up about 7 percent. Overall 2015/16 grain imports are expected to be approximately 5 MMT lower than the previous year, although the total is still a very significant volume. Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS The Canadian wheat shipment, approximately 8,000 MT, that was refused by the Egyptian government due to high ergot levels is reportedly in Alexandria awaiting final notice of rejection. About 120,000 MT of soybeans are also said to have been turned down because they contain higher levels of ambrosia seeds (ragweed) than allowed. Interestingly, many new reports refer to this as ambrosia fungus...
What You Need to Know Today: After a period of limited activity, USDA reported a sizeable 613 KMT in soybean export sales, including 330 KMT to China and 283 KMT to unknown destinations, potentially also China. The purchases represent a meaningful pickup in demand and bring China closer to ful...
Key Takeaways: Consumer spending is a key driver of the U.S. economy, and the latest retail sales data indicate that spending remains robust despite inflation. In September, total retail and food service sales rose more than 6 percent year-over-year, with food service spending up 7 percent and...
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...
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.