Pick Your Poison The US-China Economic and Security Review Commission called on Congress to reconsider whether China should be receiving permanent normal trade relations (PNTR) status. MFN was granted in 1980 and PNTR was approved by Congress in 2001 – the latter subject to the President certifying that the PRC’s entry into the WTO was based on equivalence, instead of PNTR. The U.S. Department of Commerce has just issued notice that Russia is no longer considered a market economy. Instead, it operates under a system of cronyism and corruption. China is already categorized as a nonmarket economy since its domestic prices are not pervasively set by market forces. That is the appropriate status but Congress can debate whatever it...
What You Need to Know Today: The hot, dry weather forecast continues to drive strength in grain futures with corn and soybeans hitting another day of strong gains. Monday’s Crop Progress and Conditions data were in line with market expectations and showed relatively few concerns for the...
Yesterday we wrote about the Q1 GDP numbers and the June employment reports in an article entitled Real GDP for Q1 Relying on AI Buildout, Held Back by Consumer Spending. That article mentioned that consumer spending had become a drag on GDP. Nonetheless, real GDP in Q1 was revised upward to 2...
Key Takeaways: The Middle East and North Africa's arid climate and limited water resources have created a structural dependence on imported wheat. Government wheat tenders in major importing countries serve as important benchmarks for global trade, providing insight into exporter competitivene...
From WPI Consulting
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.