Change from Crisis, Not Retreat WTO members discussed agriculture at a retreat designed non-retreat yesterday that discussed the obvious – the rules badly need updating. The distortions from subsidies, market access barriers and export restrictions get worse each year, not better. Even the 2015 agreement to ban export subsidies has been made moot by reference prices, loans, insurance subsidies, and direct payments whose distortions move across borders. The presentations and discussions no doubt provided some meetings of the minds, but retreats and conferences rarely are the watershed for change. Instead, it is usually crises that are the catalyst for major changes. Despite all the critics seeing a current crisis, it isn’t yet b...
What You Need to Know Today: The hot, dry weather forecast continues to drive strength in grain futures with corn and soybeans hitting another day of strong gains. Monday’s Crop Progress and Conditions data were in line with market expectations and showed relatively few concerns for the...
Yesterday we wrote about the Q1 GDP numbers and the June employment reports in an article entitled Real GDP for Q1 Relying on AI Buildout, Held Back by Consumer Spending. That article mentioned that consumer spending had become a drag on GDP. Nonetheless, real GDP in Q1 was revised upward to 2...
Key Takeaways: The Middle East and North Africa's arid climate and limited water resources have created a structural dependence on imported wheat. Government wheat tenders in major importing countries serve as important benchmarks for global trade, providing insight into exporter competitivene...
From WPI Consulting
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.