Russian Federation blocking Kerch Strait: Impacts on Foreign Trade, Political and Economic Outlook After 10 days of Russian blockage of the Kerch Strait in the Azov Sea, Ukraine announced on 4 December that it had resumed grain shipments, marking the end of the military standoff. On 25 November, Russia had deliberately blocked the strait to prevent the peaceful passage of a Ukrainian Armed Forces naval group.It had claimed early in the incident that the ships were stranded, which Ukrainian Navy Commander Ihor Voronchenko denied. The Ukrainian Navy command said that Russian border ships carried out openly aggressive actions against two Ukrainian small-armored artillery boats, the Berdiansk and Nikopol, and the Yana Kapu tugboat. According t...
What You Need to Know Today: The corn and soybean markets closed slightly higher in low-volume trade. The wheat market was mixed, with HRW continuing its downward trek on improved moisture. As expected, the bearish cattle on feed report drove down cattle prices and pulled hogs down with it. Mi...
Dry bulk markets were volatile but ultimately steady this week with notable differences in rate developments across vessel classes. The Capesize sector, which led the recent rally in freight rates with its dramatic surge, pulled back slightly amid more cautious chartering activity, partic...
Key Market Insights Macro markets delivered a full whipsaw today. Early in the session, crude oil had rallied back above $100/barrel as traders priced renewed concern over the U.S.-Iran standoff and potential supply risk through the Strait of Hormuz. That strength helped pull grains off their o...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.