Logistical Problems in Argentina In past years, Argentina has been well known for its excellent port logistics. Normally there is almost no waiting time at ports because of the huge loading capacity, and good roads and railways that feed the terminals. However, in the past few months several problems have created significant shipment delays. These include:Draft Reduction: A draft reduction was the result of a summer drought that forced vessels to load fewer quantities in Upriver ports. Panamaxes had to increase their intake quantities in deeper ports like Bahia Blanca, Necochea or those in Brazil. This was not a big issue, but it has had an economic impact since grains in these ports are normally more expensive than they are in Upriver...
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.