middle east

Nobody may be happier to see the month of September come to an end than oil investors.  Oil prices experienced a volatile month, with prices all over the map, wrapping up the month below the $70 per barrel mark.  And those prices may continue to move lower, as OPEC looks at resorting oil production levels.   So, why wo...

The Federal Reserve cut interest rates by a half a point last week, which was a little larger than some economists had expected.  With that reduction, oil prices moved higher in trade, spending much of the past week in the mid $70 per barrel range.  Pa...

Time for your PNW Ag Network Price at the Pump.  Monday may have been a holiday here in the U.S., but trading continued across the globe.  And in that trade, we saw oil prices continue to slip, with West Texas Crude trading Monday down slightly to $73 per barrel.  And it’s not just...

For the first time since 2019, the Idaho Wheat Commission hosted trade teams this summer.  Idaho Wheat Executive Director Casey Chumrau said they were very fortunate to welcome back the two teams, one from the Middle East and north Africa, with the 2nd from Peru and Ecuador.  Chumrau...

Are we going to run out of wheat over the next year? One expert says, "no". Even though shipments of wheat from Ukraine are nearly non-existent right now, and the U.S. winter wheat crop is struggling. "We're not gonna run out of wheat, people will be able to buy wheat, but it's gonna come at a pretty high price." ...

Efforts to feed the world's growing populations is under more strain than normal right now, partly because of disruptions in food supplies coming out of Ukraine. "We have a twin challenge here," noted USDA head Tom Vilsack. "We've got an immediate global food security challenge by virtue of the disruption that the invasion has caused and the impact it's going to have on unstable, p

The United Nations says the war in Ukraine is already resulting in higher food prices and a shortage of staple crops in central Asia, the Middle East, and North Africa. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has severely cut down on shipments from the two countries, which combine to ship 25% of the world’s wheat exports and 16% of global corn exports. ...

Speaking recently at the annual Agricultural Outlook Forum, Ag Secretary Tom Vilsack says 2021 farm and food exports were very strong. "We were able to enjoy a record year in exports; a significant increase over the 2014 record.  But the good news is, that you're going to learn at this Outlook Forum, that we anticipate and expect 2022 to be even better; to break that record.  An ...

As farm country marks June as Dairy Month, Dairy Management Inc. takes a look at dairy export opportunities and area of growth. DMI’s Amy Wagner says the organization started working with the food service industry across the U.S. around a decade ago, and then took that work abroad. ...

The USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service was busy looking for new trade opportunities in 2019.  Undersecretary for Trade and Foreign Agricultural Affairs Ted McKinney said the agency fought throughout the year to unlock new export opportunities for U.S. agricul...