Logistics Due to the second consecutive year of a La Nina-created drought, navigation along the Parana River is a major problem for cargo vessels loading at Argentina’s Upriver ports. The draft is currently 8.13 meters (26.08 feet) at the main loading ports and continues to drop. This has created significant logistical costs and higher completion prices in southern ports. The Rosario Grain Exchange conducted an analysis of vessels that loaded at Upriver ports and concluded they left the ports with an average of 29,084 MT, which is 11 percent below the January 2021 average. A slight improvement in the draft is expected over the next few days, but river levels will remain well below normal. Wheat The interven...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Key Market Insights Geopolitical Limbo: Geopolitical risk remained a key driver across global commodity markets today. President Trump stated that the Iran memorandum of understanding is not yet final and warned that military action could resume if negotiations fail. Both sides continue w...
From WPI Consulting
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.