Reports indicate some farmers are already abandoning soybeans in the drought-inflicted Brazilian states and have begun planting the fields to corn in hope that rainfall later in the growing season will help generate enough income to cover production costs. Drought Taking a Toll on Brazilian Soybeans; Flooding an Issue Elsewhere The ongoing drought in the Brazilian states of Mato Grosso, Goias, Maranhao, Tocantins, Piaui and Bahia appears to be ending after some areas received rains over the weekend. About an inch fell over parts of Mato Grosso, but most of the state remained hot and dry. With temperatures close to 100°F, however, the small amounts didn’t do much to reduce crop stress. The drought has clearly had an impact on the potential...
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.