World Perspectives
feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Oil, Commodities, Recession

Analyses about the Russian war on Ukraine have tended to focus on the displacement of agricultural commodity sales and input shortfalls. However, the Biden Administration’s belated concession to ban imports of oil from Russia was based on the more substantial economic and political risks involved.  At the narrow political level, relative voter happiness is correlated to the price of gasoline. The U.S. is headed into the summer driving season when gasoline demand will increase another 10-15 percent. The value of petroleum was already up 50 percent before the war, which is what emboldened Putin to act on Ukraine even if spring weather presented field problems for his mechanized divisions. Cutting off Russian oil supplies now at th...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 5 May)

Update for 28 April 2025: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where o...

Recession Watch

Real GDP dipped at a -0.3 percent annual rate in Q1, the first decline for any quarter since 2022. However, the main reason was that trade with other countries accounted for the largest drag on the economy for any quarter since at least 1947, as both consumers and companies loaded up on goods f...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Middle East, Mediterranean, and Africa Regional Analysis

Mediterranean/Middle East/North Africa/Africa – MEA Region Iran’s 2025 wheat production is being hurt by very dry weather. Rainfall up to February 2025 was much below average but did improve in March. However, Iran does have reasonable wheat stocks due to the good 2024 crop and whea...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 5 May)

Update for 28 April 2025: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where o...

Recession Watch

Real GDP dipped at a -0.3 percent annual rate in Q1, the first decline for any quarter since 2022. However, the main reason was that trade with other countries accounted for the largest drag on the economy for any quarter since at least 1947, as both consumers and companies loaded up on goods f...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Middle East, Mediterranean, and Africa Regional Analysis

Mediterranean/Middle East/North Africa/Africa – MEA Region Iran’s 2025 wheat production is being hurt by very dry weather. Rainfall up to February 2025 was much below average but did improve in March. However, Iran does have reasonable wheat stocks due to the good 2024 crop and whea...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Meat packer margins worsened last week for both the beef and pork sector as higher animal costs exceeded any gains in meat values. Beef packer margins fell $43/head last week and scored a new 15-year low according to WPI’s models as fed cattle prices surged and outpaced a $5 gain in the c...

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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.

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