Analysts are intensely studying the changes in trade flows and their composition following the reversal from free trade by the Trump Administration, the concerns about supply chains due to COVID, and now the de-risking of the West from China. Supply chains have gotten slightly shorter. Overall global trade volume slowed in 2022 and 2023, though value increased on higher prices, and the WTO expects a uptick in 2024. Falling commodity prices will no doubt be helpful, as will growth in GDP. Few sectors have experienced the reversal in trade fortunes as U.S. agriculture. The strong dollar ended the previous robust annual growth in exports, at the same time it provided added incentives to imports. The result is that the agricultural trade...
The U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA) enters its mandated six-year review on 1 July. The original intent of the review is outlined in Article 34.7, which obligates members to: Provide recommendations and decide on appropriate actions. Extend the USMCA for another 16 years and meet aga...
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...
Key Takeaways: Drought remains a major threat to global agricultural production, particularly in regions with limited rainfall and growing water scarcity. Commercially available drought-tolerant traits in corn, soybeans, and wheat have generally delivered modest yield improvements, limiting th...
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.