Food Security Bill – Two Sides of the Coin The Indian Parliament passed the National Food Security Bill (FSB) this week. It will become law once it is signed by the president, which is a mere formality. FSB authorizes the government of India (GOI) to provide food (grains) to 67 percent of the Indian population at subsidized rates. It is reported that the total cost will be 1.2 percent of India's GDP. As GOI already provides food subsidies at a cost of 0.8 percent of GDP, the bill represents only an additional 0.4 percent. The value could be between $18-21 billion, depending upon the GDP number. If that number is $1.6 trillion, then the extra expense would be $19.2 billion.As grain costs are high, and there is corruption in the Public D...
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...
Markets are getting into the Halloween spirit, handing out more tricks than treats. There has been some encouraging news, but it hasn’t been enough to slow the broader slide. Now buyers need to show up with something other than another “Charlie Brown” rock for the bag. Somethi...
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.