Food may be replacing fossil fuels as the flavor of the day for taxes while the WTO’s new system for reporting regulatory barriers to trade may need to be reversed to be truly effective. New Tax Magnet For decades, fossil fuels attracted lots of taxes (and subsidies) due to the essential necessity of energy and its big economic value. By contrast, food was mostly just subsidized with even small sales taxes characterized as regressive and harmful to the poor. Now, new food tax ideas are exploding; whether it is to punish the consumption of foods deemed unhealthful (fat, sugar), perceived to contribute to climate change (beef, other livestock products and vegetable oil), or simply to raise tax revenue (restaurants). Marco Springmann of the...
What You Need to Know Today: A third U.S. border crossing (Columbus, New Mexico) has reopened to Mexican cattle imports following nearly two years of restrictions related to New World screwworm. The reopening could gradually improve feeder cattle availability, although more than 60 confi...
Yesterday, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released a new report of negotiated cash purchases of cattle under the mandatory price report. The report included Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. The goal of the report was to solve the confidentiality issues e...
Beef packer margins plunged $105/head last week to $36/head as higher cattle prices combined with declining wholesale beef values to sharply compress packer profits. Fed cattle prices rose nearly $3/cwt to $227/cwt while the Choice cutout fell $4.75/cwt to $368/cwt. Margins have deteriorated $1...
From WPI Consulting
Weighing in on strategic realignment
WPI’s team was retained by the governing board of a U.S. industry organization to review a decision, reached by vote, to invest significant assets into the development and management of an export trading company. WPI’s team conducted a formal review of this decision and concluded that the current level of market saturation would limit the benefits of the investment. Based on WPI’s analysis and recommended actions, the board subsequently reversed its decision and undertook a strategic planning effort to identify more impactful investments. On behalf of numerous clients, WPI has not only assisted in identifying strategic paths but also advised their implementation.