Trade Finance Hole The U.S. Export-Import Bank votes to authorize up to $450 million in coverage to include agricultural commodities sold to Iraq. The official financing support may have become more critical as Reuters reports that commodity trade financing by banks is “drying up at a rate not seen in more than 20 years.” The report says 80 percent of global trade is intermediated by trade finance, but banks are backing away from supporting it because the business may not fit regulators’ interpretation of balanced risk. This means that either private trade finance must become more available or official credit lenders will have to intercede more. Trade Policy Shift U.S. trade legislation moves through the arcanely...
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
Infrastructure investment due diligence
On behalf of a Canadian oilseed processer WPI's team provided market analysis, econometric modeling and financial due diligence in support of a $24 million-dollar investment in a Ukrainian crush plant. Consistent with WPI's findings, local production to supply the plant and the facility's output have expanded exponentially since the investment. WPI has conducted parallel work on behalf of U.S., South American and European clients, both private and public, in the agri-food space.