An article in The Wall Street Journal yesterday (14 May) discussed whether or not the long-running bull market in commodities is over. The writer, Liam Pleven, used the DJ-UBS index of prices for key commodities as the basis from which the question arises. The DJ-UBS Index, which tracks 19 key commodities and other popular commodity price indexes, suggest that commodities began a broad upward price move in early 1999. Commodity prices continued to move higher in an irregular pattern until 2008, when they abruptly collapsed along with the prices of nearly everything else as the U.S. economy lurched into a deep recession. The DJ-UBS index began to recover in 2009. That lasted until late 2011 when the Index turned down again.The question as...
What You Need to Know Today: Declining crop conditions ratings and shaky results from the Pro Farmer crop tour sent grains sharply higher on Tuesday. The Pro Farmer tour in Ohio pegged the state yield at 180.18 BPA, about 5.5 BPA below the tour’s 2025 estimate. Similarly, the Pro Farmer...
Mediterranean/Middle East/North Africa/Africa – MEA Region Egypt is the largest importer of Brazilian maize in the first six months of 2026. Egypt imported about 28.4 percent of maize exports, or about 1.7 million MT. Iran was the third-largest importer at 14.5 percent, or 900,000 MT, fol...
Based on a Depression-era statute, President Trump imposed 50 percent tariffs on $20 billion of exports to the U.S., or about 5.2 percent of the $383 billion worth of goods the U.S. imported from Canada in 2025, according to U.S. Census Bureau data. Of that total, about $39.3 billion was agricu...
From WPI Consulting
Weighing in on strategic realignment
WPI’s team was retained by the governing board of a U.S. industry organization to review a decision, reached by vote, to invest significant assets into the development and management of an export trading company. WPI’s team conducted a formal review of this decision and concluded that the current level of market saturation would limit the benefits of the investment. Based on WPI’s analysis and recommended actions, the board subsequently reversed its decision and undertook a strategic planning effort to identify more impactful investments. On behalf of numerous clients, WPI has not only assisted in identifying strategic paths but also advised their implementation.