World Perspectives

German Broken Window Theory; Mixed Ethanol Policies; Future of Food

German Broken Window Theory At this past weekend’s Munich Security Conference, German Defense Minister Boris Pistorius said U.S. defense contractors and the American economy would benefit from spending more money helping Ukraine defend itself against Russia. Biden economic adviser Lael Brainard made a similar pitch about “how important [Ukraine] funding is for employment and production around the country.” This is just as transactional a viewpoint as those carried by Donald Trump. It also ignores the opportunity cost of government spending.  The U.S. spends 3.5 percent of GDP on defense, Germany allocates just 1.39 percent of GDP on defense. Instead, Brussels continues to spend nearly 40 percent of the EU’s bu...

Related Articles
feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Shutdown Progress, WASDE Hopes Send CBOT Higher

 The U.S. government is edging ever closer to reopening, which means Washington can resume its vital work of spending money to see if rabbits enjoy Swedish massages and training mountain lions to run on treadmills (we wish we were kidding). While Washington’s spending habits certainl...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.3525/bushel, up $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.36/bushel, up $0 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $11.3375/bushel, up $0.065 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $321/short ton, up $4.1 from yester...

Ham-Handed; Existential WTO Questions; Miscellany; Stove Piped Regs

Ham-Handed U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the Administration will make “substantial announcements” about tariffs on coffee and other commodities not grown domestically “over the next couple of days.” The move is being made because food inflation has prov...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Shutdown Progress, WASDE Hopes Send CBOT Higher

 The U.S. government is edging ever closer to reopening, which means Washington can resume its vital work of spending money to see if rabbits enjoy Swedish massages and training mountain lions to run on treadmills (we wish we were kidding). While Washington’s spending habits certainl...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

Dec 25 Corn closed at $4.3525/bushel, up $0.0325 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Wheat closed at $5.36/bushel, up $0 from yesterday's close.  Jan 26 Soybeans closed at $11.3375/bushel, up $0.065 from yesterday's close.  Dec 25 Soymeal closed at $321/short ton, up $4.1 from yester...

Ham-Handed; Existential WTO Questions; Miscellany; Stove Piped Regs

Ham-Handed U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that the Administration will make “substantial announcements” about tariffs on coffee and other commodities not grown domestically “over the next couple of days.” The move is being made because food inflation has prov...

FOB Prices and Freight Rates App (Updated 12 November)

WPI Grain Prices and Freight Rate App Note: you can also visit the app directly by clicking here. Supplemental Information The section below offers a concise view of the options available in the current version of the WPI FOB Price and Freight Rate app, along with a short “How To”...

Image
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.

Search World Perspectives

Sign In to World Perspectives

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up