MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Lebanese millers have again protested strongly against the “official” rate of the U.S. dollar in the country. The rate has not changed in about 20 years with the Lebanese pound pegged at 1,507 to the U.S. dollar. With the shortage of dollars from Lebanese banks, and the very unattractive exchange rate, millers find it very difficult to import wheat which requires payment in dollars. Millers say that they are rapidly running out of wheat and could face a crisis. Lebanon imports about 1.8 MMT of wheat per year. Syria is trying once again to find a way to swap 100,000 MT of durum wheat for 100,000 MT of soft wheat. Syria had been trying to work a deal with Russian interest, but this was not fina...
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
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.