EU wheat farmers from the Baltic States to Romania and Bulgaria refuse to sell at the equivalent of Russian and Ukrainian price levels in hope of doing so at higher prices once a certain development occurs. Milling Wheat The Black Sea market is under heavy pressure that is occurring about two weeks later than usual, which corresponds to the delay of the harvest in Russia. Domestic prices there are eroding, although not as steeply as export margins that are close to zero. However, with a crop of about 80 MMT, Russia needs to export as much as possible in the coming weeks to accommodate the record-large crop.The EU exported only 171,000 MT last week, bringing the total to 1.5 MMT versus 3.7 MMT at the same time last year. The French lineup...
What You Need to Know Today: The corn and soybean markets closed slightly higher in low-volume trade. The wheat market was mixed, with HRW continuing its downward trek on improved moisture. As expected, the bearish cattle on feed report drove down cattle prices and pulled hogs down with it. Mi...
Dry bulk markets were volatile but ultimately steady this week with notable differences in rate developments across vessel classes. The Capesize sector, which led the recent rally in freight rates with its dramatic surge, pulled back slightly amid more cautious chartering activity, partic...
Key Market Insights Macro markets delivered a full whipsaw today. Early in the session, crude oil had rallied back above $100/barrel as traders priced renewed concern over the U.S.-Iran standoff and potential supply risk through the Strait of Hormuz. That strength helped pull grains off their o...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.