World Perspectives
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Cocoa Puffs

The global cocoa price hit $10,120/MT yesterday, triple its price last fall, and it is still unlikely to be at its apex. The cause is a sharp drop-off in production in Ghana and Côte d’Ivoire, the two countries that produce nearly 65 percent of the world’s cocoa beans. Some have tried to blame climate change for the shortfall, but Steve Wateridge of Tropical Research Services rejects this assertion. He says El Nino may have reduced the Ecuadorean crop but problems with the critical crop in West Africa is rooted in management issues: Government run boards forward sell the supply and they did not anticipate the smaller crop and underpriced it.  The farmer has been receiving too little money for the crop, so they lac...

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U.S.-EU Trade Agreement

President Trump and EU President Ursula von der Lynen announced on Sunday that they reached an outline of a Cooperation Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade. This is the Trump Administration’s fifth agreement to date, along with the UK, Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam, which is...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins fell $68/head last week and marked the third straight week of declines to end near -$220, which is back among the worst margins in the past decade. The culprit for weaker margins was an $6/cwt pullback in the Choice cutout and broader beef markets while fed cattle prices ral...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Weather Overrides Trade Deal; Cattle Hit New Highs on Tight Inventories

The big news for Monday’s ag market trade wasn’t the U.S.-EU trade deal, but rather continued favorable weather in the U.S. Midwest that will boost corn and soybean yield potential to record or near-record levels. The weather has private analysts boosting yield expectations by sever...

U.S.-EU Trade Agreement

President Trump and EU President Ursula von der Lynen announced on Sunday that they reached an outline of a Cooperation Agreement on Reciprocal, Fair and Balanced Trade. This is the Trump Administration’s fifth agreement to date, along with the UK, Japan, Indonesia, and Vietnam, which is...

livestock

Livestock Industry Margins

Beef packer margins fell $68/head last week and marked the third straight week of declines to end near -$220, which is back among the worst margins in the past decade. The culprit for weaker margins was an $6/cwt pullback in the Choice cutout and broader beef markets while fed cattle prices ral...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Weather Overrides Trade Deal; Cattle Hit New Highs on Tight Inventories

The big news for Monday’s ag market trade wasn’t the U.S.-EU trade deal, but rather continued favorable weather in the U.S. Midwest that will boost corn and soybean yield potential to record or near-record levels. The weather has private analysts boosting yield expectations by sever...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 28 July)

Update for 28 April 2025: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where o...

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From WPI Consulting

Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming

WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.

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