MIDDLE EAST/MEDITERRANEAN COMMENTS The Iranian port of Chabahar is being officially inaugurated this week with a good deal of the funding for improvement and expansion provided by a $500 million contribution from India. It is located outside of the Persian Gulf and is readily accessible from India, which has begun shipping wheat exports to the port for later transport over land to Afghanistan. India’s involvement and investment in this project is logical since Pakistan restricted the trade route from there across its borders to Afghanistan. Iran and Kazakhstan are seeking closer cooperation, which could lead to improved trade with the lifting of current restrictions on the importation of the latter’s wheat a possibility. Iran...
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.
What You Need to Know Today: A third U.S. border crossing (Columbus, New Mexico) has reopened to Mexican cattle imports following nearly two years of restrictions related to New World screwworm. The reopening could gradually improve feeder cattle availability, although more than 60 confi...
Yesterday, the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service (AMS) released a new report of negotiated cash purchases of cattle under the mandatory price report. The report included Colorado, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Texas, and Kansas. The goal of the report was to solve the confidentiality issues e...
Key Takeaways: U.S. soybean crushing began in 1911 and saw its most rapid expansion during the 1930s amid the broader agricultural and technology revolutions of the time. After peaking in the early 2000s, the soybean crushing industry went through a downturn as poor crush margins forced...