World Perspectives

Ruble Collapse

While Russia had amassed $630 billion in foreign exchange reserves, its removal from SWIFT, the freezing of its overseas assets, and sanctions on its banks will nonetheless collapse the value of the ruble. At present, banks are not providing an exchange value though an app in Russia says it has fallen to 150 rubles/dollar, versus 83 rubles on Friday and 63 back in January. However, history suggests a much worse situation is approaching. At the collapse of the Soviet Union, the ruble sank to 5,560₽/dollar. Moscow had tried previously to fix the ruble at 5₽/dollar, but the market didn’t recognize it. Even worse, when the Bolsheviks took over in 1917, they refused to pay the bond holders of the previous regime’s debt and the ruble...

Related Articles

WTO Gets Trumped; Novel Remains Unusual; Cheese Diversion

WTO Gets Trumped The WTO was thrown out back on 2 April when President Trump announced his reciprocal tariffs. The tariffs totally violated U.S. obligations under the WTO but the signal was clear that the U.S. would no longer be constrained by any agreements at the WTO. Still, the Administratio...

Europe; Greening; AI; Ice Cream; UPFs; Algorithms

Europe Pivot Point EU leaders will hold a very pivotal meeting tomorrow covering a range of issues including the use of Russian assets and security guarantees for Ukraine, and a trade agreement with Mercosur. More importantly, their reputations are at risk. President Trump predicts Europe&rsquo...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Black Sea Regional Analysis

Russian Grains Market: 8–12 December 2025 Russia’s grain market continued its bearish trend that began in early December. Global fundamentals remain the primary pressure point, and Russia is no exception given its strong linkage to international trade flows. Exceptions include barte...

WTO Gets Trumped; Novel Remains Unusual; Cheese Diversion

WTO Gets Trumped The WTO was thrown out back on 2 April when President Trump announced his reciprocal tariffs. The tariffs totally violated U.S. obligations under the WTO but the signal was clear that the U.S. would no longer be constrained by any agreements at the WTO. Still, the Administratio...

Europe; Greening; AI; Ice Cream; UPFs; Algorithms

Europe Pivot Point EU leaders will hold a very pivotal meeting tomorrow covering a range of issues including the use of Russian assets and security guarantees for Ukraine, and a trade agreement with Mercosur. More importantly, their reputations are at risk. President Trump predicts Europe&rsquo...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Black Sea Regional Analysis

Russian Grains Market: 8–12 December 2025 Russia’s grain market continued its bearish trend that began in early December. Global fundamentals remain the primary pressure point, and Russia is no exception given its strong linkage to international trade flows. Exceptions include barte...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Downtrend Dominance; Wheat Hits New Lows; Soy Falls on Crush Numbers

Each year, the Chinese zodiac calendar features one animal to mark and typify the coming 365 days. If that process were applied to CBOT trade, Tuesday would have been the “day of the bear”, with all major grain markets ending in the red. The only specific trigger was the bearish NOP...

Image
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.

Search World Perspectives

Sign In to World Perspectives

Don’t have an account yet? Sign Up