Company: AGM-PH
Filing Date: 2025-11-03
Form Type: 10-Q
Source: 0000845877-25-000252
Chunk: 98

Company: FEDERAL AGRICULTURAL MORTGAGE CORP
Filing Date: 2025-11-03
Form: 10-Q
Item: Part I, Item 1
Chunk 98
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 the past few years, but some factors continued to evolve throughout 2025. Rising consumer inflation boosted the profitability of the food processing and supply chains in 2021 and 2022. Moderating consumer prices in 2023 and 2024 increased the volume of consumer spending but also limited the profit expansion of food and fiber businesses. Biofuels have gained demand due to low-carbon regulations in several states and incremental tax benefits for the production of renewable diesel and sustainable aviation fuel. A large number of planned biofuel projects and new facilities for 2025 and 2026 could provide support for raw materials such as corn and soybeans, but markets for these fuels are nascent and could evolve or erode rapidly in the coming quarters. Trade policy uncertainty, labor availability, changes to consumer demand due to health policy and pharmaceuticals, and a high risk of global economic stress could pose challenges for these sectors for the remainder of 2025 and into 2026. Still, consumer spending held steady throughout 2024 and 2025, providing stable conditions for value-added food, feed, fiber, and biofuel consumption. Credit demand in these sectors could grow in the next few quarters if interest rate policy maintains course or loosens, inflation rises again, mergers and acquisitions activity increases, or economic and trade policy uncertainty clear up.

Infrastructure Finance Industry Outlook

Power & Utilities

Economic conditions affecting rural power and electricity markets typically follow those in the general economy. According to data from the U.S. Energy Information Administration, sales and the revenue from the sale of electricity to customers advanced in 2025, with an annual increase in sales of 2.1% and an increase in revenue of 5.9%, respectively, in the last 12 months through July 2025 compared to July 2024. This increase was the result of higher residential and commercial electricity sales combined with slightly higher average prices paid for electricity relative to 2024. Electricity demand has been consistently strong in the first half of 2025, and power producers are continuing to invest in additional capacity to meet the rising demand from consumers and data centers. Continued geopolitical uncertainty in the Middle East and Eastern Europe could increase energy price volatility, but power producers are generally able to pass higher input costs through to retail electricity prices, as evidenced by higher retail electricity prices in 2022, 2023, and early 2025. Credit demand for electric cooperatives will likely be tied to ongoing normal-course capital expenditures related to maintaining and upgrading utility infrastructure. These growth