News Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Syria is said to be having some success with its plans to pay for grain imports using blocked funds in foreign bank accounts. While this program has taken some time to get implemented because of the complicated procedures and approvals, it now seems that some European governments and banks are being more cooperative. Trade reports indicate that the Syrian government is now able to pay for 500,000 MT of wheat that had been purchased by the official authority (Hoboob) and as much as 150,000 MT have now been paid for from blocked funds and shipped. Close to 250,000 MT are expected to load from France in coming weeks. The payment funds are still blocked overall and can only be used for imports...
The industry has spent two years bracing for GLP-1 medications to hollow out demand, but the data so far tells a more interesting story. Roughly one in eight adults currently uses a GLP-1, and an additional 29 percent of non-users say they would consider it if it became more accessible and cost...
Wow – what a week for freight markets. Things are changing incredibly rapidly as escalations in the U.S.-Iran war and the Ukraine-Russia conflict reshape global shipping risks and approaches beyond simple rate and insurance cost adjustments. Too, the Panama Canal has shifted its stance on...
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”...
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.