World Perspectives

Gutsy USTR; Inflation Beats Exports; Ruble Hell

Gutsy USTR  USTR Katherine Tai is in an interagency battle over whether to lift tariffs on China to try and stem inflation, and she’s not backing down in her opposition to such a move. Yesterday she told Congress that, “The China tariffs are, in my view, a significant piece of leverage, and a trade negotiator never walks away from leverage.” Making such a strong statement on an issue undergoing internal Administration debate puts her in a very public fight against Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen, who favors the cuts.  Somebody will lose and historically, presidents have sided with the troika (State, Treasury, or Defense). She then even stepped directly onto the figurative turf of Treasury by telling the Committ...

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Market Commentary: Stable Policy, Conditional Demand, Weather Emerging as the Next Risk

Key Market Developments While tariffs were not addressed directly in the State of the Union, trade policy remains steady. Reports during today’s session confirmed that U.S. tariffs on China will remain in the 35 percent–50 percent range, signaling limited escalation ahead of upcomin...

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Fuzzy Math Among President Trump’s various assertions in last night’s State of the Union address was that tariffs would someday replace the income tax, but that is a mathematical impossibility. The value of imported goods is around $3 trillion, and the income tax generates nearly $5...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.42/bushel, up $0.035 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.6975/bushel, down $0.035 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.65/bushel, up $0.0975 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $321.8/short ton, up $7.4 from...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Market Commentary: Stable Policy, Conditional Demand, Weather Emerging as the Next Risk

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Summary of Futures

May 26 Corn closed at $4.42/bushel, up $0.035 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Wheat closed at $5.6975/bushel, down $0.035 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soybeans closed at $11.65/bushel, up $0.0975 from yesterday's close.  May 26 Soymeal closed at $321.8/short ton, up $7.4 from...

feed-grains soy-oilseeds wheat

Black Sea Regional Analysis

Russian Grain Markets: 16–20 February 2026 During the week under review, the Russian grain market showed localized volatility across interior regions but remained generally stable at export terminals, the country’s primary trading platform. Among commodities, top-grade milling wheat...

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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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