FOB Prices and Freight Rate App (Updated 12 December)
Update for 12 December 2019: All other routes/offers updated through the day's close. Note: Due to client request, WPI has added data for corn prices FOB France, Russia, and a general Black Sea price. Freight Comments for 12 December 2019: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commod...
Interactive Ocean Freight Rates (Updated 12 December)
Data Updated Through: 12 December 2019 Note: Due to client request, WPI has started including rates for 60,000 MT vessels from Russia and Ukraine to Egypt. Ocean Freight Insights and Comments - 12 December 2019 By Jay O'Neil Commodity Consulting Last week the Dry-Bulk market may have fou...
SSA Commodity Opportunity
Europe has traditionally taken a stronger interest in its former colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa, with China becoming aggressively involved in recent years. The U.S. has limited its view to that of foreign aid assistance, despite the fact that its own population includes the largest number of ed...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The FAO has announced a three-year program on the “Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control”. Its plan is to raise $500 million to support this program through the establishment of a Global Action Fund which is looking for internati...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Saudi Arabia’s purchases of farmlands in Australia is causing considerable national concern. According to Australian information, about 13 percent of all farmland is foreign owned. One problem that has come to light is that there seems t...
Green on Black Equals Red; Fake Honey
Green Impact on Black Equals Red Activists in Europe are protesting against today’s “Black Friday” shopping extravaganza. They argue that the environmental externalities of consumerism will destroy the planet. This begs the question of whether commercial minimalism will destro...
Drought Doesn't Discriminate
Drought Doesn’t Discriminate Despite the frequent battle with drought faced by its farmers, South Africa has rejected adoption of a drought-tolerant maize claiming it is no better than conventional seed. However, there are several pertinent factors that require attention in any such analy...
Ag Review - November 2019
WPI's monthly publication features a review of the past month's market and policy developments. There are articles covering the next farm bill, the future of ag technology from artificial meat to drones, potential shifts in production to different crops, the outlook for U.S. – Chinese rel...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Turkish flour miller Ulusoy Un has received a Euro 6 million loan jointly from the Industrial Bank of Turkey (TSKB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). This loan is part of a Euro 100 million loan program by the tw...
Oilseed Highlights: Egypt's Soybean Production, DDGS Exports to Australia and New Zealand
Egypt Wants to Double Soybean Production The government of Egypt has announced its plan to more than double its production of soybeans to reduce its dependence on vegoil imports. The government says the country produced 59,000 MT of soybeans in 2018/19 from 14,800 hectares. Its goal is to plant...
A Faint Light from Golden Rice
As someone who has for many years pursued a deep interest in the business and economics of agriculture and food, one of the greatest frustrations and disappointments is the organized, systematic opposition to nearly all the scientific and technical advances in food and agricultural production d...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS It looks to be good news for grain importers as most experts in the ocean freight business are expecting dry-bulk freight rates to be steady to lower over the next year. The long expected rally in prices due to new low-sulfur requirement level...
Sorghum’s Row
Sorghum was once the darling crop to grow because it was cheaper to produce than corn and environmentally friendly since it required less water. U.S. farmers nearly tripled the amount of sorghum they grew between 2011 and 2015, but since then production of the crop has fallen by 40 percent. Lik...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS: As had been rumored in recent weeks, Iran, Russia and Kazakhstan have now signed an official “memorandum of understanding” for the import of Russian and Kazakh wheat. However, according to the deputy Ag Minister the agreement will...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Wheat buyers in the MENA region will have to get used to higher prices for Russian wheat as farmers are holding back on selling wheat and Russian export prices have moved about 12 percent higher in the past few weeks. Reports in Russia say tha...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Depending on which news source you choose to believe, Iran could import 3 - 6 MMT of wheat in 2019/20. Iran is suffering from a bad year for wheat with floods in some areas and drought in others. The amount of wheat to be imported is probably...
Underconsumption Areas
Building demand becomes a central focus during times of abundant resource surpluses. Asia is the easiest due to its demographics and GDP growth but there is a renewed look at Africa. Countries like Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Tanzania and Ghana all have economies growing at 6...
Oilseed Highlights: India Vegoil, U.S. Soy Sales, Egypt Vegoil Tender, Argentine Election
India’s Vegoil Imports to Increase by 1 MMT Per Year B.V. Mehta, the head of India’s Solvent Extractors Association (SEA), says India imports of vegoil are expected to grow by an additional 1 MMT per year over the next five years. India already is the world’s top importer of v...
Food Demand Present and Future
In recent years, a number of agricultural futurists have expressed concern about the ability of the world to increase the food supply enough to feed the world’s population in 2050. The world population currently is about 7.3 billion people, and although the rate at which population is gro...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Iran has announced plans to increase the area for wheat planting by 500,000 hectares to 2.25 million hectares. The increased planting may allow the wheat crop to reach 5.2 million MT, assuming good rainfall. Iran is still expected to have to i...
Growing African Food Market
Long considered a basket case, scarred by colonialism and on permanent aid dependency, Sub-Saharan Africa is receiving more attention these days for its potential as a growth market. The World Bank predicts the region will grow faster this year than last, and so will imports of key agricultural...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The World Bank expects the Egyptian economy will grow by 5.8 percent this fiscal year which began 1 July 2019. Growth is expected to be much the same for 2020/21. Experts are very happy with the progress that Egypt has made with falling inflation, balanced bud...
S&DT Hypocrisy
The WTO operates as a democracy and it is said that democracies fail when the citizens ask for more than it can deliver. The Trump Administration goes to war with a majority of the WTO members at the next General Council meeting on 15 October. It will press its case that countries cannot concur...
Trade Policy Pickle; Africa Unshackles Science
Trade Policy Pickle The Chinese lowered expectations for any outcome from this week’s bilateral negotiations with the U.S. by taking off the table President Trump’s key demand of extracting the government’s heavy role in the economy. Some analysts are arguing that the 2020 Tru...
FOB Prices and Freight Rate App (Updated 12 December)
Update for 12 December 2019: All other routes/offers updated through the day's close. Note: Due to client request, WPI has added data for corn prices FOB France, Russia, and a general Black Sea price. Freight Comments for 12 December 2019: Jay O’Neil, O’Neil Commod...
Interactive Ocean Freight Rates (Updated 12 December)
Data Updated Through: 12 December 2019 Note: Due to client request, WPI has started including rates for 60,000 MT vessels from Russia and Ukraine to Egypt. Ocean Freight Insights and Comments - 12 December 2019 By Jay O'Neil Commodity Consulting Last week the Dry-Bulk market may have fou...
SSA Commodity Opportunity
Europe has traditionally taken a stronger interest in its former colonies in Sub-Saharan Africa, with China becoming aggressively involved in recent years. The U.S. has limited its view to that of foreign aid assistance, despite the fact that its own population includes the largest number of ed...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The FAO has announced a three-year program on the “Global Action for Fall Armyworm Control”. Its plan is to raise $500 million to support this program through the establishment of a Global Action Fund which is looking for internati...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Saudi Arabia’s purchases of farmlands in Australia is causing considerable national concern. According to Australian information, about 13 percent of all farmland is foreign owned. One problem that has come to light is that there seems t...
Green on Black Equals Red; Fake Honey
Green Impact on Black Equals Red Activists in Europe are protesting against today’s “Black Friday” shopping extravaganza. They argue that the environmental externalities of consumerism will destroy the planet. This begs the question of whether commercial minimalism will destro...
Drought Doesn't Discriminate
Drought Doesn’t Discriminate Despite the frequent battle with drought faced by its farmers, South Africa has rejected adoption of a drought-tolerant maize claiming it is no better than conventional seed. However, there are several pertinent factors that require attention in any such analy...
Ag Review - November 2019
WPI's monthly publication features a review of the past month's market and policy developments. There are articles covering the next farm bill, the future of ag technology from artificial meat to drones, potential shifts in production to different crops, the outlook for U.S. – Chinese rel...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Turkish flour miller Ulusoy Un has received a Euro 6 million loan jointly from the Industrial Bank of Turkey (TSKB) and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD). This loan is part of a Euro 100 million loan program by the tw...
Oilseed Highlights: Egypt's Soybean Production, DDGS Exports to Australia and New Zealand
Egypt Wants to Double Soybean Production The government of Egypt has announced its plan to more than double its production of soybeans to reduce its dependence on vegoil imports. The government says the country produced 59,000 MT of soybeans in 2018/19 from 14,800 hectares. Its goal is to plant...
A Faint Light from Golden Rice
As someone who has for many years pursued a deep interest in the business and economics of agriculture and food, one of the greatest frustrations and disappointments is the organized, systematic opposition to nearly all the scientific and technical advances in food and agricultural production d...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS It looks to be good news for grain importers as most experts in the ocean freight business are expecting dry-bulk freight rates to be steady to lower over the next year. The long expected rally in prices due to new low-sulfur requirement level...
Sorghum’s Row
Sorghum was once the darling crop to grow because it was cheaper to produce than corn and environmentally friendly since it required less water. U.S. farmers nearly tripled the amount of sorghum they grew between 2011 and 2015, but since then production of the crop has fallen by 40 percent. Lik...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS: As had been rumored in recent weeks, Iran, Russia and Kazakhstan have now signed an official “memorandum of understanding” for the import of Russian and Kazakh wheat. However, according to the deputy Ag Minister the agreement will...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Wheat buyers in the MENA region will have to get used to higher prices for Russian wheat as farmers are holding back on selling wheat and Russian export prices have moved about 12 percent higher in the past few weeks. Reports in Russia say tha...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Depending on which news source you choose to believe, Iran could import 3 - 6 MMT of wheat in 2019/20. Iran is suffering from a bad year for wheat with floods in some areas and drought in others. The amount of wheat to be imported is probably...
Underconsumption Areas
Building demand becomes a central focus during times of abundant resource surpluses. Asia is the easiest due to its demographics and GDP growth but there is a renewed look at Africa. Countries like Ethiopia, Côte d’Ivoire, Senegal, Tanzania and Ghana all have economies growing at 6...
Oilseed Highlights: India Vegoil, U.S. Soy Sales, Egypt Vegoil Tender, Argentine Election
India’s Vegoil Imports to Increase by 1 MMT Per Year B.V. Mehta, the head of India’s Solvent Extractors Association (SEA), says India imports of vegoil are expected to grow by an additional 1 MMT per year over the next five years. India already is the world’s top importer of v...
Food Demand Present and Future
In recent years, a number of agricultural futurists have expressed concern about the ability of the world to increase the food supply enough to feed the world’s population in 2050. The world population currently is about 7.3 billion people, and although the rate at which population is gro...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
Regional Updates MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS Iran has announced plans to increase the area for wheat planting by 500,000 hectares to 2.25 million hectares. The increased planting may allow the wheat crop to reach 5.2 million MT, assuming good rainfall. Iran is still expected to have to i...
Growing African Food Market
Long considered a basket case, scarred by colonialism and on permanent aid dependency, Sub-Saharan Africa is receiving more attention these days for its potential as a growth market. The World Bank predicts the region will grow faster this year than last, and so will imports of key agricultural...
Middle East, Mediterranean and Africa Regional Analysis
MEDITERRANEAN/MIDDLE EAST COMMENTS The World Bank expects the Egyptian economy will grow by 5.8 percent this fiscal year which began 1 July 2019. Growth is expected to be much the same for 2020/21. Experts are very happy with the progress that Egypt has made with falling inflation, balanced bud...
S&DT Hypocrisy
The WTO operates as a democracy and it is said that democracies fail when the citizens ask for more than it can deliver. The Trump Administration goes to war with a majority of the WTO members at the next General Council meeting on 15 October. It will press its case that countries cannot concur...
Trade Policy Pickle; Africa Unshackles Science
Trade Policy Pickle The Chinese lowered expectations for any outcome from this week’s bilateral negotiations with the U.S. by taking off the table President Trump’s key demand of extracting the government’s heavy role in the economy. Some analysts are arguing that the 2020 Tru...