Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Depending on which news source you choose to believe, Iran could import 3 - 6 MMT of wheat in 2019/20. Iran is suffering from a bad year for wheat with floods in some areas and drought in others. The amount of wheat to be imported is probably increased due to a flour milling arrangement with Russia and Kazakhstan - Iran does the milling while Russia and Kazakhstan sell the flour. Iran is also expected to import up to 7 MMT of corn and 3 MMT of barley but selling into Iran will not be easy due to the effect of U.S. sanctions and although the sanctions do not affect grains, they do effect the way that banking has to be done. Nothing is simple doing business with Iran. Jordan’s gover...
What You Need to Know Today: Agricultural commodities were mostly lower on the day, with red-hot soyoil a notable exception. Export sales were a bit underwhelming, particularly for corn with export sales down 52 percent week-over-week. The weakness in ag markets tracked crude oil weakness wit...
With the war in Iran affecting fuel and fertilizer prices, higher tariffs, weak commodity prices, ag labor constraints, and other factors, farm bankruptcies are now at a 6-year high, a signal of growing stress. During the month of April, 62 Chapter 12 bankruptcies were filed, which is a 1...
Food Inflation The Open Markets Institute, which is notably funded by several “anonymous” donors and liberal foundations, obtained a guest editorial in the New York Times in which they blame agribusiness concentration for higher grocery prices. This is their schtick and it is politi...
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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.