Russia Meat Subsidy The Russian government will reportedly allocate $6.5 billion for “soft” export-oriented investment loans to the meat industry. The goal is to greatly boost meat exports and will include construction of “several distribution centers.” The structure of the investment mechanism could determine whether it is a WTO-illegal export subsidy or falls within Moscow’s WTO-obligated limits for domestic supports. Secondary Effects Global trade is slowing as is gross domestic product (GDP) growth, and tariff wars are being blamed. The U.S. National Association of Business Economists surveyed its membership, and it revealed that goods makers (manufacturing, agriculture), although no other indust...
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...
From WPI Consulting
Forecasting developments in production agriculture
On behalf of a private U.S. agricultural technology provider, WPI’s team generated an econometric model to forecast the movement of concentrated corn production north and west from the traditional U.S. Corn Belt. WPI’s model has subsequently provided quantitative support to a multi-million-dollar investment into short-season corn variety development. WPI’s methodology included a series of interviews with regional grain elevators and seed consultants. Emphasizing outreach and communication with stakeholders who possess intimate sectoral knowledge – on-the-ground insights – is a regular component of WPI’s methodologies, made possible by WPI’s ever-growing network of industry contacts.