Indonesian Government Rejects Proposal to Eliminate Soybean Import Tariff Today, the Indonesian government rejected a proposal by its Minister of Trade to eliminate the country's 5 percent tariff on soybean imports. The minister had proposed scrapping the tariff to help reduce the price of the soybeans widely used to make tempeh, tofu and other foods.The price of soybeans should be falling in Indonesia because of declining global prices. However, the government has set up a system that requires registered soybean importers to buy a set amount of domestic soybeans before they can acquire permits to import foreign-origin soybeans. Importers say they cannot locate sufficient domestic supplies of soybeans to purchase and therefore get the...
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.