Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST/NORTH AFRICA Egypt’s Agriculture Ministry says that about 3.63 million acres (3.5 million feddans) will be planted in wheat in 2020 – planting began in mid-November with the harvest starting in April. This forecast by the Ministry is almost the exact level of the last crop. However, Egypt is looking to a larger wheat crop due to better yields with increased usage due to better control on post-harvest losses. Bangladesh is expected to produce about 5.1 MMT of maize for 2020/21, an increase of about 13 percent but, with consumption ranging between 6 and 8 MMT, imports are expected to still be from 1 to 3 MMT. However, the expanding planting of maize could mean that Bangladesh may...
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.