The U.S. trade deficit dropped to a seasonally adjusted $38.5 billion in November, down 21 percent from October and the smallest deficit in nearly three years. Interestingly -- especially on the biofuels front, when the implication of the blend wall is considered -- the trade deficit largely was driven by the energy sector. Record volumes of petroleum products were exported, while crude oil imports were down to a 16-year low. Since 2005, real oil imports are down 22 percent, but real oil exports through petroleum products have tripled due to increased mileage automobiles and the displacement of some products via biofuels and increased domestic production. The U.S. became a net exporter of petroleum products in 2011 for the first time sinc...
Yesterday, Alberta held a referendum on whether to begin the process toward independence from Canada. With more than one million votes counted as of early Tuesday morning, around 77 percent supported remaining in Canada, and 23 percent voted to start the process of separation, according to unof...
What You Need to Know Today: Harvest pressure in the U.S. sent corn and soybeans lower as supplies increased and there were signs USDA’s upward revisions to yields in the October WASDE could be close to right. The conflict between Russia and Ukraine escalated over the weekend, with Ukrai...
Key Takeaways: India is excluding sugarcane juice, sugar syrup, and B-heavy molasses from its 2026/27 fuel ethanol procurement program to protect domestic sugar supplies, potentially shifting additional demand toward corn and rice. India’s corn consumption for ethanol has surged from jus...
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.