News Updates MEDITERRANEAN AND MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS There are only a few weeks to go until Ramadan in all Muslim countries, from about 9 July – 7 August 2013, which is immediately followed by the Eid holidays. During this period there is normally a decrease in business activity because of shorter office and banking hours. It is expected that grain reports and activities in the region will be reduced. Activity is normally greater just prior to Ramadan to ensure that grain stocks are full and supplies are on hand for what is always a period of higher-than-normal consumption.For the Ramadan period in Saudi Arabia, the government is increasing the allocation of flour to each region of the country by 10 percent so that the increased dema...
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...
Tomorrow is the Juneteenth federal holiday, and the USDA, along with the rest of the federal government and the CME, will be closed, so the monthly Cattle on Feed report was released a day early. The total number of cattle on feed in feedlots with 1,000 head or more capacity on 1 June amounted...
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.