USMCA Push U.S. Congressional consideration of the USMCA agreement will get a heavy push from its supporters over the next few weeks. The earlier goal was to get approval in September but that has now been pushed to October with November even more likely. Opponents are suggesting the legislation be help up until 2020, knowing that trade agreements are more difficult to pass in election years. Major stumbling blocks remain enforcement and the environment, with some concern also expressed over pharmaceuticals. The challenge is finding language sufficient to assuage critics without reopening the agreement itself. Still, the politics are not as large a hurdle as might be expected since it is at least more favorable to organized labor than the...
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: Dry bulk markets remain mixed with Capesize vessels seeing continued pressure from weaker demand while fixtures and rate strength gradually increases towards the smaller vessel classes. Tanker markets are pulling back from their recent highs as tonnage moves out of the Mid...
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.