No Ethanol RFS Waiver There have been rumors that an ethanol waiver is in the works because of the drought situation and skyrocketing corn prices. We previously noted that given the economics of blending ethanol (profitable) and where we were with the mandate (exceeding it), high corn prices probably were more likely to impact ethanol production than a waiver. Anyway, at a House Energy and Commerce Committee hearing this week, Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) official Margo Oge told the panel that EPA is "absolutely not" considering a waiver in the Renewable Fuel Standard (RFS) for 2012. And in related news, Texas Governor Rick Perry said he isn't considering any request of a waiver, which Texas did in 2008. Moreover, USDA Secreta...
What You Need to Know Today: Cattle futures extended their sharp selloff Friday as weakening cash cattle prices, deteriorating feedlot profitability, and reduced packer demand continued to weigh on the market. The inability of futures to sustain a rally following last week's bullish Cattle on...
As predicted, the Federal Reserve held rates steady at the last meeting before the midterm elections, likely in part because of the election (see WPI 19 October and 22 September). The decision comes at the tail end of a midterm election cycle that has been marked by the two parties campaigning...
Key Takeaways: WPI’s new EU rapeseed crushing margin models point to weaker processing returns over the next four months due to higher rapeseed procurement costs and weaker product values. Statistical forecasts call for German crushing margins to decline from €181/MT to €...
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.