General Comments The weekend election results in France and Greece sponsored another flight to safety in world capital markets. The dollar and yen soared in early Sunday evening trade, and crude oil and basically every other commodity dropped. The austerity moves to control budget deficits appear to be replaced by the desire to stimulate economic growth. The problem, of course, is that there is no money to stimulate unless more is printed. It will be another interesting summer across Europe. So, the rest of the world became more concerned about growth, or lack thereof, and thus the weakness in commodities. There was also good weekend rain across much of the northern Corn Belt and it is raining today across the Delta and parts of the So...
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...
As predicted, the Federal Reserve held rates steady at the last meeting before the midterm elections, likely in part because of the election (see WPI 19 October and 22 September). The decision comes at the tail end of a midterm election cycle that has been marked by the two parties campaigning...
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 €...
From WPI Consulting
Accountability and a comprehensive approach to export programming
WPI’s team helped construct a strategic approach to develop, implement, and track promotional activities in 8 key regions across the globe for an agricultural export association. With continued progress measurement and strategic advisory services from WPI, the association has seen its ROI from investments in promotional programming increase by 44 percent over the past 5 years. Not only does this type of holistic approach to organizational strategy provide measurable results to track and analyze, it fosters top-down and bottom-up organizational accountability.