Regional Updates: Mediterranean/Middle East Comments: The Turkish lira’s drop is forecasted to push up inflation in Turkey by as much as 20 percent in 2018/19. Qatar has promised investments of up to $15 billion to help support the Turkish economy. Turkey is blaming most of its problems on the U.S. and says that the U.S. is waging an “economic war” against Turkey. The falling lira could cause a banking crisis affecting several EU banks which hold a good deal of Turkish private sector debt. Turkey is a major importer of wheat, corn, barley, corn by-products, oilseeds and oilseed meals and any banking crisis will certainly hit these imports. Officials of Iran, Afghanistan and India will be meeting in Kabul in...
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
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.