There is easy agreement that COVID-19 was the worst thing about 2020, and it hopefully goes away soon. But many of the other topics we discussed and analyzed throughout 2020 are likely to mature in the year ahead. China, China, China It will remain the 800-pound gorilla in the room. Not only because of its economic weight but because it forces the neoliberal democracies to question their own orthodoxies. Partner or strategic rival? Is the future going to be capitalism, state-led development, or some combination of the two? Does emphasizing moral values only matter against poorer countries (e.g. tying trade to Brazil’s management of rainforests but holding China harmless for its human rights abuses)? Will it be managed trade or...
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.