Corn prices in India continue on an upward trend as both supplies and hope for good availability next season dwindle. Similarly, egg prices are also on the rise due to conditions that are impacting the production regions for both sectors. India's Worsening Cotton Situation Available sowing data indicates that India's cotton acreage of 10.191 million hectares on 31 July 2015 was 2.79 percent lower than a year ago. There is still time for additional planting, and the Cotton Association of India (CAI) expects that the total area will ultimately be similar to last year's. Production is expected to reach 38.275 bales (same as 2014/15), far more than the domestic requirement, and prices are bound to crash again in 2015/16. The Cotton Corporatio...
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...
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.