General Comments Corn and wheat spent the entire session trading lower, while soybeans and soymeal were higher. Corn continued to suffer a hangover from EPA's reduced biofuels mandate numbers that were released last Friday. The bearish corn story got worse when it was announced that China had apparently rejected a cargo of U.S. corn because it contained a non-approved GMO variety. Soybeans were firm following last Friday's 30+ cent price collapse and held those gains on the back of record weekly soybean export shipments that approached 90 million bushels.There wasn't much other news today and certainly none that would inspire buyers. Crude oil was down nearly $1.00 much of the day and the dollar index was lower. U.S. equity markets aga...
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 €...
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.