Soybeans get a lot of attention because they are the most heavily traded oilseed but in terms of expanding exports, sunflower seeds are small in number but just as fast in terms of growth over the past decade. Moreover, in terms of crushed oil exports, sunflower oil has grown faster in recent years than any other vegetable oil. Palm oil gets the attention because of its low cost but sunflower oil exports have been growing twice as fast. Sunflower oil benefits from several factors, though cost is not one of them. It may get some premium for being non-GMO, but it gets cred also for being a “natural” oil, that is purely a perception issue. Food makers like it because of its high smoke point and its blending characteristics. Howeve...
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
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.