Plurilateral for NTBs Australia has launched an effort to address the nontariff trade barriers (NTBs) its exporters face. The Aussie beef industry says NTBs cost it A$3.4 billion per year and the nation’s grain growers curated a list of 54 such barriers across 15 markets. But there is no reason for Australia to go it alone with its plan. As it is, the U.S. government is unwilling to expend resources on foreign trade barriers if the cost of litigation is significantly higher than the economic benefit to be gained. This leaves many pesky and collectively burdensome barriers free to obstruct and hinder trade. Other agricultural exporting nations face the same barriers and there would be both greater political leverage and economies of s...
Given yesterday’s headlines, today’s market action may not be what many expected. The dollar is little changed, crude oil is pulling back and stocks are trading higher. Crude may be the biggest piece of today’s reversal. Saudi Arabia is offering additional crude to Asian buyer...
Key Takeaways: Managed money is holding more than one million net-long contracts across agricultural markets, with corn, soybeans, and soymeal all reaching record net-long positions in September. Fundamental concerns surrounding yields, supplies, and global availability have helped justify the...
Under an Executive Order on 4 September, USDA announced $50 million in new funding to help states establish or expand meat and poultry inspection programs as part of an effort to increase processing options for livestock producers. It’s called the Stand-Up Program, which will help states...
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.