World Perspectives
livestock

Arbitraging Energy

Food prices have increased but not as much as energy costs. The latest CPI data shows food at home increased year-on-year in April by 10.8 percent, and by even more for animal proteins. However, the cost of gasoline has jumped from $2.948/gallon in April 2021 to $4.213/gallon last month. U.S. energy costs are a third less than Japan’s, and only half as much as Germany’s. Energy is about 14 percent of U.S. agricultural production costs and likely a larger share in most countries, though it is substantially less a cost burden in Russia. Because shipping water is expensive and even more so when bunker oil prices are high, countries that produce food and extract its water using lower energy costs are more competitive in global mark...

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feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Volatility Continues with Corn Less Supported than Soybeans

The market continues to look for a floor following Monday’s WASDE report, with soybeans and soyoil finding terra firma on a bullish NOPA report that showed crush at a near-record level. Volume was generally subdued but skyrocketed in soyoil as traders sought to get a piece of the rising a...

Transportation and Export Report - January 15, 2026

WPI is pleased to the second week of the Transportation and Export Report, a weekly industry publication previously produced by ocean freight specialist Jay O’Neil. This report, which WPI recently acquired, will strengthen WPI’s coverage of global ocean freight markets by building o...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins rebounded modestly last week but remained deeply negative. Margins improved $60/head to –$249 as the Choice cutout rose $14/cwt while fed cattle prices were mostly steady. The improvement reflects a short-term stabilization in boxed beef values following the sharp post...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Volatility Continues with Corn Less Supported than Soybeans

The market continues to look for a floor following Monday’s WASDE report, with soybeans and soyoil finding terra firma on a bullish NOPA report that showed crush at a near-record level. Volume was generally subdued but skyrocketed in soyoil as traders sought to get a piece of the rising a...

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WPI is pleased to the second week of the Transportation and Export Report, a weekly industry publication previously produced by ocean freight specialist Jay O’Neil. This report, which WPI recently acquired, will strengthen WPI’s coverage of global ocean freight markets by building o...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins rebounded modestly last week but remained deeply negative. Margins improved $60/head to –$249 as the Choice cutout rose $14/cwt while fed cattle prices were mostly steady. The improvement reflects a short-term stabilization in boxed beef values following the sharp post...

livestock

Livestock Round Up: Tariff Impacts on Beef Supply

While President Trump has stuck to the storyline that tariffs are an economic boost for the U.S., one sector in particular shows a different story: beef. As WPI has noted many times, about half of all beef consumption in the U.S. is in the form of ground beef, and that ground beef relies on imp...

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From WPI Consulting

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.

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