Russian Grain Markets: 27 April - 1 May 2026 The Russian grains market remained volatile but predominantly bullish during the week in review. However, ruble (RUB) movements continue to distort domestic price signals. With export duties at zero for three consecutive weeks and export prices relatively stable, lower RUB-denominated prices primarily reflect currency strength rather than underlying weakness. At the same time, large on-farm stocks continue to pressure the market and are likely to do so through the end of the season. Russia increased grain exports in April to 4.6 MMT, up 1.8 times from April 2025. Despite quotas and logistical constraints, exports this season have expanded beyond wheat to include all major grains. Wheat exports re...
What You Need to Know Today: The June jobs report showed nonfarm payrolls increased by 57k jobs, less than the 115k jobs expected by economists surveyed by Dow Jones. The labor force participation rate dropped by 0.3 percent to 61.5 percent, the lowest since March 2021, and the lowest in 50 ye...
As Cuba's economic crisis has deepened, discussions about the country's eventual economic and political transition have reemerged. One question that inevitably follows is what opportunities might emerge for U.S. agricultural exports. So, here’s a brief review of those opportunities, but n...
Key Takeaways Traffic through the Strait of Hormuz is increasing steadily, despite a precarious political situation. The increased flow of vessels through the SOH is pressuring tanker rates, though total volumes remain well below pre-war levels. The big issue in the Strait of Hormu...
From WPI Consulting
Communicating importance of value-added products
Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.