You might well wonder why China didn’t retaliate against US soybean exports in the wake of Trump’s 10% tax on Chinese goods. Was it because heavy tariffs were already in place in response to the earlier Section 301 tariffs? No, given the Phase 1 of the trade deal (not that there was ever a Phase 2), tariffs were reduce. Here’s the current situation, from the National Corn Growers Association.
Category Archives: commodities
The Price Elasticity of Avocado Supply, Demand, and Tariff Pass Through
I was pondering whether the US is a large country insofar as tariffs on avocados are concerned. Since 90% of consumption is from Mexico, one might think the US is a large country; on the other hand, elasticities matter. This study by Ambrozek et al. (2019) indicates 0.2 demand elasticity at shipper level. Let’s guess that supply elasticity is 0.2 (about 80% of Mexican exports go to the US, and about 85% of production is exported; Carman and Kraft (1998) cite 0.2.
Trump: Bringing Grocery Prices Down [sic] – Coffee Edition
Farmers of the Nation, Unite! You Have Nothing to Lose but Possible Retaliation against Soybeans and Corn
From the National Corn Growers Association:
U.S. soybeans and corn are prime targets for tariffs. As the top two export commodities for our country, together they account for about one-fourth of total U.S. agricultural export value. As such, a repeated tariff-based approach to addressing trade with China places a target on both U.S. soybeans and corn. Farmers and rural economies pay the price as a result.
Trump 2.0 Tariffs and Wisconsin
Be prepared. It doesn’t look good for Wisconsin (just like Trump 1.0 didn’t but this time there isn’t $18 billion on tap to bail out the soybean farmers).
Gasoline and Oil Prices
We have weekly gasoline prices through week ending 9/30:
When Tariffs Last Bloomed – Soybean Edition
Or, have US soybean exports recovered since Trump last reigned? Not in volumes.
Guest Contribution: “Restructuring Debt of African Commodity-Exporters”
Today, we present a guest post written by Jeffrey Frankel, Harpel Professor at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government, and formerly a member of the White House Council of Economic Advisers. A shorter version appeared at Project Syndicate. I would like to thank Sohaib Nasim for valuable assistance on this month’s commentary, as well my others this year.
Lumber Prices near Consumers
Futures prices and PPI have come down (see here). The question is whether the consumer (say a house builder) has seen comparable price decreases. Here are two pictures that suggest they have.
Lumber Prices and Lumber Futures
Lumber prices did drop like a rock in Fall 2021 (which JohnH seems to deny); then back up. Then back down.