13 African nations met in Tanzania to discuss ways of controlling aflatoxin, mainly with maize and groundnuts (peanuts). Much time was focused on the success of Aflasafe, which is said to reduce aflatoxin levels by a significant amount if applied correctly to croplands. Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS The Turkish government announced that it has reopened the Bosphorus Strait, which is located between the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, now that the attempted coup in Turkey has ended. This is the only sea route for grain cargoes out of the Black Sea. According to Turkish authorities, the closing was only for a few hours. However, it was still long enough to build a lineup of vessels waiting to transit the 17-mile stra...
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.