World Perspectives

Against the Grain; Bipartisan Horses; China and EU Deals

Against the Grain Demographics are destiny, and with 60 percent of the world’s population and some of its fastest-growing economies, this is supposed to be the Asian Century. That is the theme of the book “The Future is Asian” by Singaporean geopolitical consultant Parag Khanna. However, former People’s Bank of China economist Joe Zhang shows his critical thinking skills by showering doubt on the concept. In an era when the earth shows severe strain from human beings, Asia’s population density per square kilometer is more than triple that of Africa and seven times that of North America. Zhang goes on to note how artificial intelligence (AI) and automation may put even greater burdens on countries with larger...

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Market Commentary: Ags Sink on Risk-Off Day Despite Weaker Dollar

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

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Barriers are Good; Squeezed in the Trade War; Calculating the Impacts; Tax is a Tax

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Ags Sink on Risk-Off Day Despite Weaker Dollar

The CBOT was higher overnight as the U.S. dollar fell to a three-year low, but the day session saw the major ag market slip lower and end in the red with pressure from macroeconomic markets increasing. In addition to sparking trade wars with nearly every major U.S. trading partner, U.S. Preside...

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May 25 Corn closed at $4.8175/bushel, down $0.005 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Wheat closed at $5.385/bushel, down $0.1025 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Soybeans closed at $10.295/bushel, down $0.07 from yesterday's close.  May 25 Soymeal closed at $292.9/short ton, down $2...

Barriers are Good; Squeezed in the Trade War; Calculating the Impacts; Tax is a Tax

Barriers are Good The issue de jour is tariffs. Donald Trump is vilified by conventionalists for the self-induced wound of raising this single barrier to business. As a businessman, Trump sees a complex web of market barriers. Domestic regulations, domestic taxes, but also foreign tariffs (taxe...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Mercosur Regional Analysis

Argentina Macroeconomic Updates Argentina saw a shortened trading week, with no markets last Thursday and Friday. It was also the first week of trading under the new exchange rate regulations, so it took the markets a few days to adjust. Regarding the official exchange rate, it opened on Monday...

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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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