Larger imports apparently more than compensate for production losses in the Gulf.

I was looking for a rebound in imports as some of the activity along the Gulf Coast came back to normal.

While many are focusing on the infamous bankrupt entities as the primary culprits for the market losses, once must recognize that several companies that have not been besieged by fraud allegations have also lost billions in value.

We got a bigger-than-expected decline because offshore production is still down by more than 50 percent and imports were down. The shock of Katrina is still being felt.

There isn't the spare capacity to make up for the missing production in the Gulf of Mexico. OPEC used to have 4 to 5 million barrels of spare capacity. That's down to about 1.5 million barrels a day this year.

In livestock production, you want to make sure you can manage your losses as well as your profits.