Energy markets are being buffeted by a number of global events and collapsing oil prices are putting ethanol under pressure. The nearby ethanol futures contract dropped this morning below $1.20/gal, which is the record low close set in November 2018. The contract closed at $1.2229/gal. Of course, the energy market fundamentals put the spotlight on what might happen with the small refinery exemptions (SREs) issued by EPA as the Department of Justice (DOJ) is considering whether to challenge the 10th District federal court ruling about the SREs. Increased volumes and stronger RINs prices are a life jacket for ethanol to float through the bearish blending economics that will likely come from low crude oil and gasoline prices. But the e...
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.
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...