Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 11 - 15 May 2026 The Russian grains market showed a broadly bullish tone across the European part of the country during the week, while conditions in the Asian regions remained stable to slightly bearish. In the southern federal district, the key wheat export hub, prices...
Zimmerman Joins WPI Team as Communications Manager
World Perspectives, Inc. is pleased to announce a new member to our team. Cortney Zimmerman joined WPI in January as the Communications Manager. In this role, she supports the editing, production, and publication of the firm’s market analysis and written reports, working closely with anal...
FOB Prices and Freight Rates App (Updated 20 May)
WPI Grain Prices and Freight Rate App Note: you can also visit the app directly by clicking here. Supplemental Information The section below offers a concise view of the options available in the current version of the WPI FOB Price and Freight Rate app, along with a short “...
Market Commentary: Markets Pause to Assess China Deal Amid Broadly Bullish Backdrop
What You Need to Know Today: Excitement over China’s agreement to purchase $17 billion of U.S. ag commodities subsided, as traders are cautious amid the yet-unspecified allocation of those purchases. Monday’s Crop Progress report did not significantly change the narrative for corn...
CFTC COT Report Analysis
Friday’s CFTC report showed funds reducing net long positions across most of the major ag futures contracts, reversing a three-week buying trend. Funds reduced the net long on all-ags by 92,000 contracts (8.4 percent), pulling back from the largest net long since at least 2016. The...
China Market Analysis
There has been more analysis of the Trump-Xi meeting last week than decades worth of papers written on the fall of Rome and the assassination of JFK. Optimists highlight the pageantry and showmanship; pessimists complain nothing major was accomplished. The divergence of the official assessments...
More on China Trade
As WPI reported, Presidents Trump and Xi held a bilateral summit last week (World Perspectives), the first since 2017, with some uncertainty over the outcome, though Trump commented on some “fantastic” trade deals. Over the weekend, more information was released on those agreements,...
Middle East, Mediterranean, and Africa Regional Analysis
Mediterranean/Middle East/North Africa/Africa – MEA Region Iran is said to import about 20 million MT of grains and oilseeds annually through Persian Gulf ports, plus about 5.0 million MT on the Caspian Sea. Maize, soybeans, soymeal, and vegetable oil are all highly dependent on imports &...
Market Commentary: Assumptions, Uncertainty, Volatility
What You Need to Know Today: Markets opened double digits higher Sunday evening following the release of Chinese and American official summaries of bilateral discussions last week. They chose the more optimistic view of future Chinese purchases of American farm goods versus the more opaque inte...
Texas Joins Beef Antitrust Effort
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday launched an investigation into the beef industry over potential anticompetitive conduct among the nation’s largest meatpackers, his office announced Friday. He said the investigation would be conducted alongside a separate antitrust probe announ...
WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 18 May)
Update for 6 April 2025: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where ob...
Mercosur Regional Analysis
Corn Argentina’s corn harvest remains virtually stalled as producers continue prioritizing the soybean harvest, which has advanced rapidly in recent weeks. During the past week, corn harvest progress increased only two percentage points, while soybean harvest advanced more than 30 percent...
Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 11 - 15 May 2026 The Russian grains market showed a broadly bullish tone across the European part of the country during the week, while conditions in the Asian regions remained stable to slightly bearish. In the southern federal district, the key wheat export hub, prices...
Zimmerman Joins WPI Team as Communications Manager
World Perspectives, Inc. is pleased to announce a new member to our team. Cortney Zimmerman joined WPI in January as the Communications Manager. In this role, she supports the editing, production, and publication of the firm’s market analysis and written reports, working closely with anal...
FOB Prices and Freight Rates App (Updated 20 May)
WPI Grain Prices and Freight Rate App Note: you can also visit the app directly by clicking here. Supplemental Information The section below offers a concise view of the options available in the current version of the WPI FOB Price and Freight Rate app, along with a short “...
Market Commentary: Markets Pause to Assess China Deal Amid Broadly Bullish Backdrop
What You Need to Know Today: Excitement over China’s agreement to purchase $17 billion of U.S. ag commodities subsided, as traders are cautious amid the yet-unspecified allocation of those purchases. Monday’s Crop Progress report did not significantly change the narrative for corn...
CFTC COT Report Analysis
Friday’s CFTC report showed funds reducing net long positions across most of the major ag futures contracts, reversing a three-week buying trend. Funds reduced the net long on all-ags by 92,000 contracts (8.4 percent), pulling back from the largest net long since at least 2016. The...
China Market Analysis
There has been more analysis of the Trump-Xi meeting last week than decades worth of papers written on the fall of Rome and the assassination of JFK. Optimists highlight the pageantry and showmanship; pessimists complain nothing major was accomplished. The divergence of the official assessments...
More on China Trade
As WPI reported, Presidents Trump and Xi held a bilateral summit last week (World Perspectives), the first since 2017, with some uncertainty over the outcome, though Trump commented on some “fantastic” trade deals. Over the weekend, more information was released on those agreements,...
Middle East, Mediterranean, and Africa Regional Analysis
Mediterranean/Middle East/North Africa/Africa – MEA Region Iran is said to import about 20 million MT of grains and oilseeds annually through Persian Gulf ports, plus about 5.0 million MT on the Caspian Sea. Maize, soybeans, soymeal, and vegetable oil are all highly dependent on imports &...
Market Commentary: Assumptions, Uncertainty, Volatility
What You Need to Know Today: Markets opened double digits higher Sunday evening following the release of Chinese and American official summaries of bilateral discussions last week. They chose the more optimistic view of future Chinese purchases of American farm goods versus the more opaque inte...
Texas Joins Beef Antitrust Effort
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton on Friday launched an investigation into the beef industry over potential anticompetitive conduct among the nation’s largest meatpackers, his office announced Friday. He said the investigation would be conducted alongside a separate antitrust probe announ...
WPI Crop Progress and Conditions App (Updated 18 May)
Update for 6 April 2025: Last year, users pointed out differences between the 5-year averages reported in this app and what USDA estimates in its weekly report. The difference exists because WPI calculates average based on the last 5 years of observations for the current week. In cases where ob...
Mercosur Regional Analysis
Corn Argentina’s corn harvest remains virtually stalled as producers continue prioritizing the soybean harvest, which has advanced rapidly in recent weeks. During the past week, corn harvest progress increased only two percentage points, while soybean harvest advanced more than 30 percent...