Corn The Argentine corn crop is not starting off well due to inadequate soil moisture in most of the core areas due to lack of rain that is delaying planting activities. Plantings are delayed year-on-year by about 10 percent.The Buenos Aires grain exchange reduced the estimated planting area by 100,000 hectares down to 3.46 MMT. Total planted area is now 8 percent complete. The most affected regions are the north and south core areas where the delay in planting is 29 and 22 percent respectively. Because of the delays, there could be an increase this year in the core areas with late planted corn. If this occurs, the big volumes in the FAS market will appear for late shipments (June and July). That could heat up price premiums for March...
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.