The dollar and the euro reached parity for the first time in two decades, and the dollar is rising in value against other currencies. This is the result of safe-haven during economic uncertainty, and the Fed’s increase in interest rates attracting higher rates of return. The real change in the trade-weighted exchange rate can greatly impact trade competitiveness. The last time the dollar appreciated substantially was between 1980 and 1985 when it increased 57 percent, undermining U.S. agricultural exports and thus pushing commodity prices lower. By contrast, the dollar subsequently depreciated by 30 percent during 2002 - 2011, resulting in record agricultural exports between 2010 and 2013. The trade-weighted exchange rate developed b...
What You Need to Know Today: There has already been a strong run of flash soybean sales announcements in recent weeks, but more than 1.4 MMT reported this morning is an exceptionally large single-day total with major implications for the market. If the sales to China and unknown destinations w...
On Friday, at 6:57 AM, President Donald Trump announced, via a social media post, a 90-day window during which up to 300,000 metric tons of product for ground beef could be imported outside of tariff-rate quotas—a move aimed at bringing down costs for American consumers. This is the secon...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.