World Perspectives

Value of Scale Recognized

Agriculture ministers from five EU countries (Bulgaria, Poland, Romania, Hungary, and Slovakia) are asking the European Commission to come up with a solution to the harm they say is being caused by imports of grain from Ukraine. One option is to impose tariffs on Ukraine. However, it is their analysis of why Ukraine is more competitive that is noteworthy. They say, “The main reason for this is that cheaper Ukrainian agricultural products, due to different farming standards and land sizes…” The data is very tricky but the EU’s own stats show that the average farm size in Ukraine is 15 times larger than the average EU farm size. Amongst the complaining EU members, Slovakia actually has a larger average farm size than...

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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.

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