World Perspectives
softs

No Rice Crisis

The Economist magazine notes that rice yields are not improving very quickly and that the International Rice Research Institute says that it is the food commodity perhaps most vulnerable to climate change. It is also a major contributor to climate change due to its methane emissions and yet consumers will demand 30 percent more rice by 2050. First, it is difficult to say that climate change has slowed rice yields. Pakistan is the only major supplier with a drop in yield due to flooding last season. Rice varieties and cultivation are more tradition-bound, removing the potential for technological improvements.   India supplies over 40 percent of the world’s traded rice and its yield increases have been average a respectable 1...

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WPI Grain Transportation Report

Dry bulk freight rates cratered this week as China started its Golden Week holiday, which blanketed markets with calm and quiet. Pacific markets were especially dull and weaker, especially amid doubts about how China’s grain demand will play out after the holiday. China still has not book...

FOB Prices and Freight Rates App (Updated 1 October)

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”...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

CFTC COT Report Analysis

Friday’s CFTC report showed managed money traders adding back to short positions across the ag space as technical conditions quickly deteriorated for the soy complex and wheat. Funds added nearly 85,000 contracts to their all-ag futures net short last week and continue to hold a neutral/s...

WPI Grain Transportation Report

Dry bulk freight rates cratered this week as China started its Golden Week holiday, which blanketed markets with calm and quiet. Pacific markets were especially dull and weaker, especially amid doubts about how China’s grain demand will play out after the holiday. China still has not book...

FOB Prices and Freight Rates App (Updated 1 October)

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”...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

CFTC COT Report Analysis

Friday’s CFTC report showed managed money traders adding back to short positions across the ag space as technical conditions quickly deteriorated for the soy complex and wheat. Funds added nearly 85,000 contracts to their all-ag futures net short last week and continue to hold a neutral/s...

wheat softs

2026 Minor Crop Acreage Outlook

Yesterday, WPI presented our initial acreage forecasts for the 2026 U.S. crop year with a focus on the major crops (corn, soybeans, and all-wheat). Today, we extend that analysis to show our forecasts for more minor crop acres. Briefly, our modeling results show that producers across the U.S. a...

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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.

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