Trans-Atlantic Analytical Differences EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos indicates he is prepared to discuss the role of biofuels given concerns by the FAO and others about its contribution to higher food prices. However, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack informed an ethanol group in Washington yesterday that he has told the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) not to change the biofuel mandate. He went on to reportedly say, "If there's current increases in food costs in this country, it's not the fault of commodity prices. It's most likely a result of rising oil prices." However, WTI oil was at $102.96/barrel on 3 January and is currently at just over $95/barrel. By contrast, corn started the year at $6.58/bushel and is now more than 2...
What You Need to Know Today: Commodities were mostly lower across the board today after yesterday’s Federal Reserve meeting hinted at a potential interest rate hike later in 2026. The dollar index reached its highest level in over a year, and a strong dollar makes U.S. agricultural expor...
Key Market Insights Geopolitical Limbo: Geopolitical risk remained a key driver across global commodity markets today. President Trump stated that the Iran memorandum of understanding is not yet final and warned that military action could resume if negotiations fail. Both sides continue w...
From WPI Consulting
Communicating importance of value-added products
Facing increasing pressure to quantify the value of export promotion efforts to investors, a U.S. industry organization retained WPI to develop a quantitative model that better communicated the importance of exports. The resulting model concluded that value-added meat exports contributed $0.45 cents per bushel to the price of corn, increasing support for that sector’s financial support of WPI’s client. In addition to serving the red meat industry with this type of analysis, WPI has generated similar deliverables for the U.S. soybean and poultry/egg industries.