Record Sugar Production Expected Based on the projected increase in sugarcane production (see Ag Perspectives, 2 March), a higher crush as well as good recovery in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh, the sugar industry expects 2017/18 sugar production to reach 29.2 MMT, a record. That is up 11.87 percent from the earlier estimate of 26.1 MMT and would be 43.84 percent higher than the 20.3 MMT produced in 2016/17. The sugar industry was moving into crisis mode with prices dropping drastically, forcing the government of India (GOI) to intervene by increasing the duty on imports and enacting a stock limit for manufacturers. With a much higher production, it will need to move faster and take other actions, including allowing exports and...
Key Market Insights The broad market is locked in on this week’s Trump-Xi meeting in Beijing, but this is no longer just a trade summit. Increasingly, the meeting is becoming tied directly to Iran, energy security, and the growing global economic fallout from disruptions through the Strai...
Illuminating the value of technical research
On behalf of a commodity producer organization, WPI evaluated the outputs from a project that featured a $5 million investment into technical research over multiple years. WPI’s team captured the results of this extensive effort and synthesized them for presentation to the organization’s governing board; among the findings uncovered and presented for the first time was the development of genomic traits proven, via rigorous testing, to provide crop yield advantages of 50 percent or more to U.S. farmers in times of drought. Capturing measurable results from long-term efforts can be challenging. Educating clients on the dynamics of success measurement when quantifiable results are not readily available requires deep client-consultant collaboration and an ability to consider both near- and long-term client aspirations with market/policy dynamics – attributes that WPI brings to every consulting engagement.