Macroeconomic Trends Food Inflation Falls to Lowest Since February 2019 With October retail pork prices falling for the first time in China in the past 18 months, food prices for last month were up by just 2.2 percent on an annualized basis. Compared with this past September, which saw pork prices rise by 25.5 percent, the average retail pork price in October fell by 2.8 percent. Meanwhile, egg prices continued their downward trend, declining by 16.3 percent last month year-on-year versus a 15.8 percent drop in September. Heading in the opposite direction were the average prices for fresh fruit, fresh vegetables, cooking oil, and dairy products, which saw gains of .4 percent, 16.7 percent, 4.7 percent, and 1.3 percent, respectively. For...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.