Russian Grain Markets: 16-20 April 2012 GRAINS AND PRODUCTS Planting UpdatesAs of 24 April, spring crops were planted on 4,322,900 hectares (76 percent more than the same period last year). Spring grains were planted on 2,688,500 hectares (77.4 percent more than the same period last year).The Russian market showed different trends during the week in review. Grain prices in European Russia began to increase because the actual grain transfers from the intervention fund to buyers will only be possible in May. Thus, in the next week sellers will want to benefit from the temporariy grain deficit and sell their products at higher prices. On the other hand, buyers' activity was low, as most preferred to wait until May. Intervention commodity t...
What You Need to Know Today: Cattle futures extended their sharp selloff Friday as weakening cash cattle prices, deteriorating feedlot profitability, and reduced packer demand continued to weigh on the market. The inability of futures to sustain a rally following last week's bullish Cattle on...
Key Takeaways: WPI’s new EU rapeseed crushing margin models point to weaker processing returns over the next four months due to higher rapeseed procurement costs and weaker product values. Statistical forecasts call for German crushing margins to decline from €181/MT to €...
Key Takeaways: The tariff burden rose sharply in 2025 and 2026: the effective rate on imports in HTS Chapters 1–24 increased from 1.53 percent in 2024 to 6.11 percent in 2025, before averaging 5.68 percent in January–August 2026. Headline rates tell only part of the story: exemptio...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.