Macroeconomic Trends Food Inflation Falls in August, Remains Above 10 Percent Following a 2.2 percent increase in July, food prices fell in August to an annualized growth rate of 11.2 percent. That marked the 13th consecutive month that the cost of food in China has risen year-on-year by 10 percent or more. Food prices have not had this level of sustained growth since the 2007/2008 period. Retail pork prices softened in August after a sharp run in July, as the average consumer price rose by 52.6 percent compared to August 2019. Other categories seeing significant upticks included vegetables with a growth of 11.7 percent, cooking oil up 6.4 percent, and dairy products rising 1.2 percent. In contrast, the average retail prices for fresh f...
What You Need to Know Today: President Trump claimed the ceasefire between the U.S. and Iran was over, as both sides accused one another of violating the terms of the agreement. Commercial vessels are increasingly steering clear of the Strait of Hormuz as security risks escalate following Iran...
Key Takeaways: The CME Group is launching new 90 percent Lean Beef and 50 percent Lean Beef futures and options contracts in July. There are five key factors that must be present in physical markets and futures contract specifications for futures contracts to become successful. The two l...
Russian Grain Markets: 29 June-3 July 2026 The new marketing season has officially begun in Russia, although bearish sentiment has been concentrated in the southern regions closest to the Black Sea ports, where export demand has been weakest. Delays in grain deliveries to inland elevators have...
From WPI Consulting
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.