Author Archives: Mintec

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from George Duke, market analyst at Mintec.

Pork prices in the U.S. have fallen sharply since June, with August prices 40% lower month-over-month. Seasonal falls in pork prices can be expected for the late summer. This year, however, pork prices are falling at a more significant rate than the historical average.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Jara Zicha, market analyst at Mintec.

A lot has been written about this year’s bumper almond crop in California, as well as on tariffs major global importers have stamped on the U.S. product. But despite all of the talk of prices heading down, we have actually seen prices rising lately, by 5% since mid-July. Will this trend last? Let’s look at the current market dynamics.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Corrina Hutchings, senior market analyst at Mintec.

During the Rio Olympics 2016, we wrote an article on Brazil and the country’s major commodities, predominately sugar and coffee. Differences between the market place back then and in recent months are notable, to say the least.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Jonathan Stokes, market analyst at Mintec.

U.S. soybean prices fell dramatically during July, reaching their lowest levels since 2009. At their lowermost point, prices had fallen 20% from the beginning of the month, as a combination of factors centered around improving crop prospects and concerns over reactionary Chinese tariffs weighed heavily on the market.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from George Duke, analyst at Mintec.

The U.S. is once again experiencing an oversupply of dairy. Cheddar barrel prices are currently at their lowest levels since 2010, with 1.39 billion pounds of cheese stored in U.S. warehouses weighing down on prices. The current stockpile of cheese is the largest since records began in 1917.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest contribution from Prince Fiifi Yawson, analyst at Mintec.

In June 2015, President Donald Trump announced in his candidacy for president, “We need a leader that can bring back our jobs, can bring back our manufacturing.” Fast-forward to June 2018 and the U.S. economic growth rate has risen, bringing the unemployment rate down to 3.8%, its lowest level in 18 years. It goes without saying that Trump has brought back some jobs, but is this a continuing trend?

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Jara Zicha, senior market analyst at Mintec.

Argentina and Turkey are major global players when it comes to the dried fruit and nut markets. Recently, however, both countries saw a sharp devaluation in the value of their respective currencies. The Argentinian peso plummeted 17% over the course of a month, between April 24 and May 24, 2018, and is currently down 35% year-over-year.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Verity Michie, market analyst at Mintec.

Last week the U.S. Department of Agriculture released the new agricultural crop fundamentals for the upcoming 2018–2019 season, and there have been some surprising results. At the end of April, there was news that shook the commodities markets following adverse cold and wet weather conditions in the U.S. throughout the first five months of 2018. Reports said that less than half of the 2018–2019 season spring crops had been planted compared to the average size of plantings for the past five years. Now that we have the official USDA figures, let’s see the influence that the weather has had on the upcoming season.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Jara Zicha, market analyst at Mintec.

The peanut market has seen an uptick in pricing lately, caused by the severe drought Argentina has been experiencing, which has also had an impact on other major crops, as reported in our previous post. Prices for Argentinian peanuts delivered to Rotterdam have increased from $1.26 per kg in February to $1.49 per kg in mid-April, up 18%, quickly approaching levels seen last year when prices were in a free-fall slide due to large global supplies.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Corrina Hutchings, senior market analyst at Mintec. 

Chocolate is generally a hot topic, and with only a couple of months between Christmas, Valentine’s Day and Easter, homes across the U.S. are likely to have stockpiles. Since the start of 2018, the price of cocoa beans has been increasing rapidly and does not look like it will settle soon. Prices on the ICE NY US are up 39% since the start of 2018 and 25% year-over-year, close to those prices seen throughout 2015/2016

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Verity Michie, market analyst at Mintec.

Over the past few months, Argentina has been hit by what could be its worst drought in 30 years. The effects of the extreme dry spell has reduced Argentina’s GDP by 0.5% compared with the previous year, where agriculture accounted for 7% of the country's GDP. Although this could have a large impact on Argentina’s economy generally, this isn’t the only concerning factor. The agricultural market in Argentina makes up around 25% of exports and accounts for 7% of all employment.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Michael Liberty, market analyst at Mintec.

While the U.S. and Russia have been imposing tariffs on each other since the annex of Crimea in 2014, the U.S. now finds itself bickering with one of its major partners, the E.U. While the U.S. is not directly trying to affect the E.U. market, the implications of it increasing tariffs on aluminium and steel imports will be felt worldwide.