MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA/AFRICA – MEA REGION Turkey’s monthly inflation rate increased by 5.03 percent in January while the 12-month inflation rate stood at 42.12 percent. Turkey’s inflation rate dropped significantly from the 75 percent rate in May 2024. Lebanon’s local wheat and barley production are down by as much as 41 percent due to a spring drought in 2024 followed by summer heat waves. Wheat production, according to the FAO, is down from 159,000 to 94,000 MT. Lebanon is expected to import 670,000 MT of wheat in 2025 with total cereals imports reaching 1.2 MMT. Egyptian officials report that they expect Red Sea/Suez Canal traffic to increase in coming weeks as Yemen’s Houthis rebels s...
What You Need to Know Today: The USTR says Brazil has committed “unreasonable” acts against global trade rules and is recommending at 25 percent tariff on nearly all Brazilian ag products (unclear whether this includes beef amid President Trump’s effort to lower beef prices)...
Beef prices hit record highs in April 2026, and that is in large part due to robust consumer demand. Despite economic pressures on consumers, there is not much evidence of consumers trading down from beef. Much of that was due to the COVID pandemic when consumers learned new ways to...
Key Takeaways: The Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007 set a goal of producing 16 billion gallons of cellulosic ethanol annually by 2022, but actual production reached only a small fraction of that target. High production costs, feedstock collection challenges, and technological hurdl...
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.