China made a rare purchase of U.S. wheat and is on track to make record overall purchases this year. Domestic consumption of wheat has been growing at a 2.6 percent annual rate at the same time domestic production is increasing by 0.66 percent. Exacerbating the situation this year is excessive rains reducing part of its crop to feed quality. Now it needs more imported milling quality wheat to blend up its supplies. One question is why the wheat is being largely sourced from the West? Australia is logical due to its proximity and has supplied about 60 percent of its imports thus far. Now China is reportedly looking to the U.S., Canada, and France. Russia is the logical supplier based on their geopolitical alliance, and Moscow claims t...
What You Need to Know Today: Russia rejected calls for a ceasefire in the Black Sea, including a proposal to halt attacks on civilian shipping that could help restore grain flows from Ukrainian ports. Tyson Foods announced plans to permanently close its Joslin, Illinois, beef processing facili...
What You Need to Know Today: Wholesale inflation was flat in July, with the Producer Price Index (PPI) unchanged versus expectations for a 0.2 percent increase. Core PPI rose 0.2 percent, also below expectations. The softer inflation data has reduced the odds of a September interest rate incre...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.