Author Archives: Mintec

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Nick Peksa, opportunities director at Mintec.

One dark night in 1775, Paul Revere road his horse through the streets of Massachusetts shouting, “The British are coming!” While this may not be factually correct, I would like to be the first to shout, “Oh Sugar, the E.U. is coming!”

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

Global rapeseed oil prices have risen steeply since the middle of June, as adverse weather conditions in a number of major rapeseed producing countries have resulted in declining crop prospects worldwide. In the U.S., usage of rapeseed oil is predicted to increase 0.3 million tonnes, to a record 2.63 million tonnes in 2016/2017, due to a sharp decline in domestic soybean oil usage in the food sector.

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

Following the expiration of the nine-year-long softwood lumber agreement (SLA) in October 2015, the U.S. and Canada have yet to finalize a new trade agreement. But why do they need one?

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Nick Peksa, opportunities director at Mintec.

Yes, the butter market has gone crazy. Normally these kind of rapid price movements are reserved for markets like vanilla, crude oil and currency, but not for shopping staples. At the end of May 2016, European butter futures had established a new monthly record for futures traded, with 1,382 butter contracts having been established. This phenomenon is not just confined to Europe; there has been an increased demand globally for all types of fats (people trending toward anti-sugar and organics).

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Jara Zicha and Jonathan Stokes, of Mintec. 

A few years back, cashews were very competitively priced, being one of the cheapest tree nuts available on the market. However, prices have soared since the beginning of 2016, currently up 30% year-over-year, at over $11 per kilogram in Vietnam.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Nick Peksa, opportunities director at Mintec.

Rather than speak about raw material and commodity prices, I thought I would introduce you to some of the ways I encourage people to use Mintec data. Fast-moving consumer goods are manufactured from multiple, potentially volatile, raw materials. With access to raw material prices and to your recipes/specification, you should be able to create a simple cost model.

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

Scallop prices peak seasonally at the start of the year due to declining stocks in line with the end of the fishing season, with prices rising 13% from December to January. U.S. sea scallop prices have, however, fallen 34% since March, due to not only the number of scallops caught by fishing vessels but also the size of the individual scallops.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Nick Peksa, a director at Mintec. 

It’s 8 a.m. and I am waiting for a docklands light railway train, when it arrives a few moments later, with slight apprehension I step on board. The DLR train rapidly fills up with a Lycra clad army, the air is heavy with the scent of wintergreen, menthol and eucalyptus, and there is palpable excitement and nervous tension in the air, as people chatter away. Yes, that’s right, Regain, a fantastic charity that supports tetraplegics in sport, persuaded me to run the London Marathon for them this year.

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

In recent months, soybean prices have crashed to a five-month low. Previously, prices were edging upward and the sales outlook for American producers had been positive. So why was there this quick reversal in fortune?

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Verity Michie, Market Analyst at Mintec.

Last year in June, we asked whether the cotton price recovery continue? The answer was yes, it did, all throughout 2016 and into 2017. But now the real question we need to ask ourselves is how much longer will the price continue to rise? To answer that question, we must understand why prices rose to almost three-year highs in the first place.

Spend Matters welcomes this guest post from Rajiv Joarder, knowledge team leader at Mintec.

Coal prices have been on a steady downward trend since late 2012. But lately, the price of coal in the U.S. has risen by 36% since the beginning of October 2016 and is expected to go up further. So has Donald Trump delivered on his campaign promise to revive the coal industry?

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

We last spoke about cheese prices in December, when the USDA purchased stocks of excess cheddar in November to help boost domestic prices, which resulted in a two-year peak in November. Fast-forward three months, and it’s deja vu; however, this time, the global markets are making their mark.