Regional Updates MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS As of 15 April, Egypt had bought approximately 365,000 MT of local wheat against its purchase target of 3.6 MMT. Wheat buyers from Morocco and Tunisia were in the U.S. last week to closely examine its wheat infrastructure. The group visited the Kansas Wheat Innovation Center, toured the grain institute at Kansas State University and visited the Federal Grain Inspection Service (FGIS). It also went to Houston to see wheat vessel-loading facilities. The first “saltie” ocean vessel of the year, MV Hanse Gate, has arrived in Thunder Bay, Canada to load Canadian wheat bound for Algeria. The first vessel of the year is always a big celebration, and the master of the H...
Energy: Risk Over Rules Fighting between the United States and Iran over control of the Strait of Hormuz escalated overnight. Tehran accused U.S. forces of striking a residential area after U.S. Central Command said its second round of attacks in three days targeted Iranian radar systems and mi...
Key Takeaways: Ghana’s new law classifies all cocoa plantations as “protected farms,” which carries significant implications for farmers. Chief among these implications is the inability to switch area under cocoa to other crops, even when economic or biological conditio...
Key Takeaways: Paraguay typically ranks among the world’s largest soybean exporters, with roughly two-thirds of its production destined for export markets, although most shipments remain within South America. As a landlocked country, Paraguay relies heavily on the Paraguay-Paraná...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.