Brazil
China soaks up Brazilian soybeans
As a consequence of the Sino-U.S. trade war, Brazil is likely to ship nearly 60 million tonnes of soybeans to China this calendar year, a 9-percent increase from 2017, say USDA analysts. While the United States is effectively shut out of China because of high tariffs, "U.S. trade opportunities for markets outside of China would rise by nearly 13 million tonnes in the coming (trade) year, compared to 2016/17," according to the monthly Oilseeds: World Markets and Trade report.
‘Farmers are smart,’ won’t need more aid, says Perdue
U.S. farmers and ranchers were blindsided by the Trump trade war, but they will adapt quickly to lower commodity prices and disruptions in the export market, said Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue on Wednesday. “Farmers are smart,” he said, swatting down the idea that the White House will write another agriculture aid package after earmarking up to $12 billion for this year.
U.S. heads for near-record corn exports
Thanks to continued strong demand from overseas buyers, U.S. corn exports this trade year could be the second highest ever, the Foreign Agricultural Service said on Thursday.
Both China and U.S. will feel the pain of a soybean trade war
U.S. soybean exports will be down a quarter-billion bushels in the coming year due to steep Chinese tariffs on the oilseed, estimated the USDA on Thursday. In a boomerang effect of the U.S.-China trade war, Brazil would indisputably replace the United States as the world’s largest soybean grower as China scouts, without full success, for alternative soy suppliers.
Brazil to match U.S. as world’s top soybean grower
After a decade of robust growth, world production of soybeans will grow at a much slower rate of 1.5 percent annually in the years ahead, says two UN agencies in their annual Agricultural Outlook. Brazil, the longtime No. 2 to the United States in soybeans, will reach parity with America, said the report by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development and the Food and Agriculture Organization.
Brazil set for record soybean crop, exports
A Brazilian analyst said the country will see record-setting soybean exports this year as the result of a drought-afflicted crop in Argentina and trade tensions between the United States and China, reported Reuters.
Drought wallops Argentina’s soybean crop
Prolonged drought will limit Argentina’s soybean crop to 47 million tonnes this year, about 10 million tonnes less than usual, estimated the USDA in its monthly WASDE report.
Brazil to displace U.S. as world’s largest corn exporter, says analyst
Brazil, the agricultural giant of South America, will supplant the United States as the world's largest corn exporter before a decade passes, says a top Brazilian commodity consultant. The prediction underlines diminishing U.S. dominance of the world market. Brazil already is the largest soybean exporter and a close second to the U.S. as a soybean grower.
Brazil elbowing out U.S. in soybean sales to China
The United States is the world’s largest soybean producer and Brazil is the largest exporter, a long-term trend that is putting U.S. farmers at a disadvantage in sales to China, which buys 60 percent of the soybeans on the world market.
Bad weather batters wheat crops in Australia and Brazil
Wheat production in Australia is down by 36 percent from a year ago because of drought, said the USDA’s World Agricultural Production report.
Brazil meatpacker believes U.S. will allow imports soon
The chief executive of a large Brazilian meatpacking company says the United States is expected to re-open its borders to fresh beef from Brazil in early 2018, reported Reuters. Shipments were shut off in June.
Brazil beef exports rebound after scandal; U.S. reopening at hand?
The return to fast-paced beef exports indicates that Brazil’s cattle producers and meatpackers may avoid lasting damage from the bribery scandal that rocked the country early this year, said Agrimoney. It cited an estimate by the U.S. agricultural attache in Brasilia that the country would export 1.91 million tonnes of beef in 2018, the fourth year in a row of larger shipments.
Multinational food companies dive into developing countries
Cottonseed subsidy could cost $420 million or more
The Senate proposal to create a subsidy program for cottonseed could carry a pricetag of $420 million or more, according to an analysis by economist Carl Zulauf of Ohio State University. Zulauf did not calculate the figure but estimated 14.08 million acres might be eligible, with payments of $30 an acre, based on USDA payment formulas.
‘Superbugs’ surging in Brazilian lakes, rivers, seas
A new study, to be published in November in the journal Science of the Total Environment, found that the waterways in Brazil’s two biggest cities have become “major sources of multidrug-resistant bacteria,” reports SciDev.Net. It is the first time these so-called superbugs have been found in these waters, which include those off the beaches of Rio de Janeiro, Guanabara Bay, and the waterways of São Paolo.
Antitrust group decries ‘scandalous job swapping’ as JBS hires USDA official
The world's largest meat company, JBS, entwined in a corruption scandal in its home country of Brazil, hired as its global food security Al Almanza, who just retired as head of USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service. The Organization for Competitive Markets, which focuses on agricultural antitrust issues, called the hiring "the latest of the scandalous job swapping between government and the meat industry."
USDA suspends fresh beef imports from scandal-marred Brazil
In less than four months, USDA inspectors rejected 1.9 million pounds of fresh beef from Brazil, a worrisome 11 percent of shipments from that country during that time. Now Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue has suspended all Brazilian beef imports, saying, “My first priority is to protect American consumers.”
U.S. to close international climate change office
The Energy Department announced it would be disbanding the Office of International Climate and Technology, which was established in 2010 to help foreign countries lower their greenhouse gas emissions.
Exports boom as bumper corn crop pulls down farm-gate prices
U.S. corn exports are climbing for the third year in a row and will be the fourth largest on record this trade year, thanks to the mammoth crop now being harvested and falling market prices, said the Agriculture Department on Thursday. The 15.2 billion-bushel crop would be just a hair smaller than the record set last year.