
More than 40,000 animals were processed during the last Falkland Islands Meat Company season. FIMCO Operations Manager Dave Roberts commented that the 2017 export season began with the staff arriving on January 21. A high percentage of them returned from previous seasons to the Sandy Bay plant.

“Good progress has been made in the discussions between the Government of Uruguay and UPM concerning the infrastructure development and other local prerequisites for long-term industrial growth in Uruguay. We are now in agreement regarding the majority of the key items on the negotiation agenda,” says Jaakko Sarantola, Senior Vice President, UPM, Uruguay Platform.

Chubut province in Argentine Patagonia has been declared in state of emergency and eight of its 16 counties in agriculture disaster as a consequence of torrential rainfall and mudslides which have left huge areas isolateds, or cut off from the communications network.

China overtook the United States in 2016 to become Chile's No. 1 wine market, Angelica Valenzuela, commercial director of Vinos de Chile, said. Wine consumption in China grew 13.8% last year, Valenzuela told reporters at a press conference organized by the Imagen de Chile Foundation, an agency charged with promoting the national brand

Brazil's beef exports should return to normal levels between April and May as the country's efforts to reverse import bans have started to bear fruit in the wake of a food safety scandal that surfaced last month, industry group Abrafrigo said.

Global food prices monitored by FAO fell in March amid large available supplies and expectations of strong harvests. The FAO Food Price Index averaged nearly 171 points in March, marking a 2.8 percent drop from the previous month while remaining 13.4 percent above its level a year earlier.
A move announced recently by Mexican diplomats may be a precursor of what could be happening in the coming months with the trading of major commodities involving the country’s trade war talks with the U.S.

The Irish Farmers’ Association (IFA) is pushing to have meat removed from the proposed trade deal between Europe and Mercosur in the wake of Brazil’s meat scandal. The move could scupper the entire trade deal given the importance of the meat industry to Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay and Paraguay.

JBS SA, the world’s largest meat packer, has suspended production at 10 plants in Brazil. The action comes as the company works to rebound from the fallout of an anticorruption investigation launched by the Federal Police in Brazil.

Worldwide markets have been slamming their doors on Brazilian meat since revelations that rotten product was being sold with faked certificates, but the agriculture minister said Thursday “the worst of the process is over.”