Exports point to climate change as the cause of the plateauing in global crop production but no where is it more apparent than in coffee production. Brazil is responsible for 40 percent of global coffee production and around 31 percent of global trade. This year, Brazil’s coffee exports will drop 22 percent, though global trade will only fall 4 percent as other coffee suppliers fill the gap. Brazil’s four-year low in coffee output is the result of last year’s drought conditions and winter frosts. Some of this year’s crop is also seeing dryness but rains have been ample where they count. Traders can manage moving grain crops were they are needed, but only if they have sufficient caffeine to think it through cle...
Key Takeaways: Dry bulk markets remain mixed with Capesize rates turning around from their recent weakness and posting solid gains on improved Chinese demand. Panamax vessels, on the other hand, saw rates decline amid greater tonnage availability in the South Atlantic and falling U.S. Gu...
Key Takeaways: A student group from the University of Chicago is protesting to bring back onion futures trading. Trading in onion futures was banned in 1958 following a spectacular bout of market manipulation that resulted in a corner of the physical market. The ban on onion futures led t...
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.