News Updates EGYPT UPDATE The Egyptian Government announced that it is allocating another $166 million for local wheat purchases, increasing the available funds for grain purchases by about 25 percent. This week it was reported that the local purchases to date exceed 2.6 MMT. With local prices higher than world market prices, local traders reportedly are selling imported wheat as local wheat and making profits in excess of $100/MT. It's not too surprising that this has happened, since the exact same situation exists in Iraq as well.Local traders in Egypt estimate that as much as 700,000 MT of non-Egyptian wheat has been sold as local crop while traders in Europe believe it is probably no more than 300,000-400,000 MT. Still, $100/MT profit...
Key Takeaways: President Trump announced $8 billion in additional agricultural assistance through the Harvest Fuel Relief Program, as USDA projects farm fuel and oil expenses will increase 28.8 percent in 2026. The package follows $12 billion in earlier relief, while government farm payments w...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
Beef packer margins deteriorated to $141/head last week, down $55 from the prior week as fed cattle prices strengthened while the Choice cutout remained nearly unchanged. The cutout held near $373/cwt while fed cattle prices climbed $4/cwt to $224/cwt, narrowing processor profits. Despite the d...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.