Wheat traders seemed put off by the fact that USDA actually raised its estimate of U.S. ending stocks, although 10 million bushels one way or another does not mean much with over five months of the crop year still to come. General Comments With the USDA December WASDE coming out in the midst of the day session today, grain and soy markets were understandably tentative overnight in trading volume that was barely average. Corn and soy prices strengthened on mostly technical short covering during the early portion of the day session with session highs reached shortly before the report was released at noon EST. Traders quickly speed-read the numbers and decided that USDA's conclusions mostly met expectations and therefore provided no reasons...
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
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.