MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA It is reported in Egypt that the government cabinet supports a plan to grant tariff exemption to grain importers for the 14 percent freight VAT charge. The freight VAT, based on estimated freight costs, has created serious cost premiums for export from countries with longer shipping distances and higher freight costs. It has been particularly bad for shippers using containers where the VAT could amount to several dollars per MT. Officials in Iraq said that Iran, Saudi Arabia, and Turkey have shown some interest in exports of Iraq barley. As much as 700,000 MT of barley is expected to be put up for sale. It is expected that Iraq will open an international tender for the sale of its barley. Numb...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
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.