The state governments in India have taken effective steps over the past few months to control the supplies and costs of pulses in the face of a potentially high deficit, and there have been other resulting economic benefits as well. Lower Lentil/Pulses Prices Good for Domestic Market The state governments in India became strict over the past few months, implementing stock limits on pulses, organizing raids and releasing the confiscated supplies in the market. The fear tactics worked as the wholesale prices of tur (pigeon pea), urad (black lentil) and masoor (red lentil), which are the main pulses, have declined 37.5 percent, 24.62 percent and 33.21 percent, respectively, from their peak in the third week of October 2015. However, retail p...
What You Need to Know Today: Chinese purchases of U.S. soybeans continued to accelerate, with USDA reporting another 558 KMT sold to China and 236 KMT to unknown destinations. Combined with sales announced Wednesday and Thursday, the latest purchases bring the three-day total to approximately...
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.