Who is Paying for U.S. Tariffs?
Over the course of 2025, the average tariff rate on U.S. imports increased from 2.6 percent at the beginning of the year to 13 percent by year-end. It then spiked in April and May, when tariffs on Chinese goods were raised by 125 percentage points, before being reversed by 115 percentage points...
WPI Spring Acreage Outlook
Heading into the USDA’s annual Ag Outlook Forum (AOF) next week, there is heightened speculation and anticipation about what the 2026/27 crop outlook will be. WPI updated our acreage forecasting models to help clients know what to expect—most likely—from the upcoming AOF forec...
Transportation and Export Report - 13 February 2026
U.S. grain transportation markets are slowly recovering from the shocks of bitter cold weather and low water levels on the Mississippi River System and from the surge in export demand. The latter is also causing strong rallies in ocean freight markets, particularly in the Atlantic basin. With g...
Market Commentary: China Headlines and Technical Buying Lift CBOT
Key Market Developments Markets head into Friday’s CPI report expecting a 0.3 percent month-over-month increase in both headline and core inflation, keeping year-over-year readings near +2.5 percent. That matters — but perhaps not as much as it would have a few weeks ago. This week&...
Sovereignty and Competitiveness; USMCA Battle
Sovereignty and Competitiveness So-called food sovereignty has animated European politics for decades. Now there is AI sovereignty because English is annoying or a national security risk. Taxes, regulations, and fines are thrown at dominant foreign companies to the point that Bloomberg says som...
Livestock Round Up: Cattle Margins and Distribution
The recent February World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report forecast beef production to increase in 2026 due to greater slaughter of steers and heifers, increased cow slaughter, and heavier dressed weights, all of which will provide some relief to the beef market. Also, th...
A Year in Review: Impact of Tariffs on Agricultural and Food Processing Machinery
We now have nearly a year of data to work with on the impact of the Trump Administration’s tariffs. When they were first announced, there was quite a bit of conjecture and some sophisticated economic analysis about how trade flows would be impacted. This brief analysis will focus br...
Market Commentary: Mixed But Steady with an Outside Surprise
The U.S. created more new jobs in January than expected, especially in healthcare. And there was more ethanol produced last week than the market expected. Soyoil hit a new contract high, but South American production continues to look quite substantial. The mixed news produced mixed results, bu...
Livestock Industry Margins
Beef packer margins weakened further last week, with estimated net losses widening to -$247/head, extending the deterioration seen through late January. Boxed beef values were firmer last week, but gains failed to offset increases in fed cattle prices, resulting in additional margin compression...
Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 2–6 February 2026 The primary development during the first week of February was the allocation of grain export quotas for the balance of the 2025/26 marketing season. A total of 213 companies received export rights, compared with 219 companies in 2025. The majority...
Market Commentary: WASDE Confirms Big Supply, Big Demand; Soybeans Gain on Brazil Quality
The headline numbers from the February WASDE – the South American production estimates – were mostly in line with expectations, which is to say the massive Brazilian soybean crop was found to be even more so. USDA increased its assessment of the Brazilian crop to a new record, which...
WPI Website Security Update - 10 February
On the morning of 9 February, WPI identified unauthorized activity on our website server. Upon discovery, we immediately secured the website and server, took the necessary and advisable steps to examine the environment for comprimises, and deployed the website to a new, secure server. Our...
Who is Paying for U.S. Tariffs?
Over the course of 2025, the average tariff rate on U.S. imports increased from 2.6 percent at the beginning of the year to 13 percent by year-end. It then spiked in April and May, when tariffs on Chinese goods were raised by 125 percentage points, before being reversed by 115 percentage points...
WPI Spring Acreage Outlook
Heading into the USDA’s annual Ag Outlook Forum (AOF) next week, there is heightened speculation and anticipation about what the 2026/27 crop outlook will be. WPI updated our acreage forecasting models to help clients know what to expect—most likely—from the upcoming AOF forec...
Transportation and Export Report - 13 February 2026
U.S. grain transportation markets are slowly recovering from the shocks of bitter cold weather and low water levels on the Mississippi River System and from the surge in export demand. The latter is also causing strong rallies in ocean freight markets, particularly in the Atlantic basin. With g...
Market Commentary: China Headlines and Technical Buying Lift CBOT
Key Market Developments Markets head into Friday’s CPI report expecting a 0.3 percent month-over-month increase in both headline and core inflation, keeping year-over-year readings near +2.5 percent. That matters — but perhaps not as much as it would have a few weeks ago. This week&...
Sovereignty and Competitiveness; USMCA Battle
Sovereignty and Competitiveness So-called food sovereignty has animated European politics for decades. Now there is AI sovereignty because English is annoying or a national security risk. Taxes, regulations, and fines are thrown at dominant foreign companies to the point that Bloomberg says som...
Livestock Round Up: Cattle Margins and Distribution
The recent February World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report forecast beef production to increase in 2026 due to greater slaughter of steers and heifers, increased cow slaughter, and heavier dressed weights, all of which will provide some relief to the beef market. Also, th...
A Year in Review: Impact of Tariffs on Agricultural and Food Processing Machinery
We now have nearly a year of data to work with on the impact of the Trump Administration’s tariffs. When they were first announced, there was quite a bit of conjecture and some sophisticated economic analysis about how trade flows would be impacted. This brief analysis will focus br...
Market Commentary: Mixed But Steady with an Outside Surprise
The U.S. created more new jobs in January than expected, especially in healthcare. And there was more ethanol produced last week than the market expected. Soyoil hit a new contract high, but South American production continues to look quite substantial. The mixed news produced mixed results, bu...
Livestock Industry Margins
Beef packer margins weakened further last week, with estimated net losses widening to -$247/head, extending the deterioration seen through late January. Boxed beef values were firmer last week, but gains failed to offset increases in fed cattle prices, resulting in additional margin compression...
Black Sea Regional Analysis
Russian Grain Markets: 2–6 February 2026 The primary development during the first week of February was the allocation of grain export quotas for the balance of the 2025/26 marketing season. A total of 213 companies received export rights, compared with 219 companies in 2025. The majority...
Market Commentary: WASDE Confirms Big Supply, Big Demand; Soybeans Gain on Brazil Quality
The headline numbers from the February WASDE – the South American production estimates – were mostly in line with expectations, which is to say the massive Brazilian soybean crop was found to be even more so. USDA increased its assessment of the Brazilian crop to a new record, which...
WPI Website Security Update - 10 February
On the morning of 9 February, WPI identified unauthorized activity on our website server. Upon discovery, we immediately secured the website and server, took the necessary and advisable steps to examine the environment for comprimises, and deployed the website to a new, secure server. Our...