Agriculture

• Monday, March 20th 2017 - 08:12 UTC

  Brazil desperate to minimize extent of “Weak Flesh”, exposing bribes and poor controls in meat industry

  

  Brazil's President Michel Temer has sought to reassure foreign trade partners that the corruption scandal engulfing the country's meat industry does not mean its products are unsafe. Meeting ambassadors from Europe, the United States and China to share a barbeque, Temer said his government remained confident about the quality of Brazilian meat.

• Thursday, March 9th 2017 - 11:32 UTC

  Brazil's fertilizer market picks up strongly as sowing area expands

  

  Brazil's fertilizer market, having recovered to set a fresh all-time high last year, will expand further in 2017, Fertilizantes Heringer said, as it unveiled a jump in corn nutrient volumes, but a fallback in sales to coffee growers.

• Friday, February 17th 2017 - 10:25 UTC

  Mexico looking at Argentina and Brazil as an alternative for US corn

  

  Mexican politicians are saber rattling against the US agriculture sector, and it looks like Argentina is ready to fill the gap. In effect Mexico's agriculture minister said on Thursday he will lead a business delegation to Argentina and Brazil to explore buying yellow corn, part of a drive to lessen Mexico's U.S. dependence given uncertainty over President Donald Trump's trade policies.

• Thursday, February 16th 2017 - 16:30 UTC

  Brazil forecasts record soy and corn harvests, on good climate conditions

  

  Conab, the Brazilian crop supply agency lifted its forecast for the second-season corn crop by some 2.5m tons, citing good weather. Conab forecast the Brazilian safrinha crop, which is sown after soybeans are harvested, up 44% year-on-year, to 58.59m tons. This compares to the 56.10m tons Cobab forecast in January.

• Thursday, February 16th 2017 - 12:40 UTC

  US producer prices in January record highest gain in four years

  

  U.S. producer prices recorded their largest gain in more than four years in January amid increases in the cost of energy products, but a strong dollar continued to keep underlying inflation at the factory gate tame.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2017 - 11:28 UTC

  Brazil forced to import Robusta coffee: first time in decades

  

  Brazil's Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said on Monday he has asked the country's Foreign Trade Chamber (Camex) for authorization to open robusta coffee imports at near zero tariff, according to the ministry.

• Tuesday, February 14th 2017 - 11:21 UTC

  Uruguay's wool and lamb exports dropped 17% in twelve months

  

  Uruguay wool and lamb exports dropped 17% in dollars in the last twelve months compared to the year before. Of the US$ 265 million shipped overseas, China was the main client with 42% of that total, according to the latest Custom stats.

• Monday, February 13th 2017 - 16:41 UTC

  Argentina expects at least 15 million tons of wheat from the 2016/17 crop

  

  Argentine farmers are expected to harvest at least 15 million tons of wheat in the 2016/17 crop year versus 11.3 million in the previous season, Agriculture Minister Ricardo Buryaile said last week. Wheat planting in Argentina expanded dramatically when President Mauricio Macri eliminated export taxes soon after his December inauguration.

• Thursday, February 9th 2017 - 15:45 UTC

  Cereal prices continue to rise despite improved supplies, says FAO

  

  The FAO Food Price Index averaged 173.8 in January, its highest value in almost two years, marking a 2.1% increase from its revised December value and 16.4% above its 2016 January level. The FAO Sugar Price Index surged 9.9% in the month, driven by expectations of protracted supply tightness in Brazil, India and Thailand.

• Monday, February 6th 2017 - 23:00 UTC

  Crop destroying caterpillar rapidly spreading across Africa; maize production endangered

  

  New research announced by scientists at CABI (Center for Agriculture and Bioscience Information) confirms that a recently introduced crop-destroying armyworm caterpillar is now spreading rapidly across Mainland Africa and could spread to tropical Asia and the Mediterranean in the next few years, becoming a major threat to agricultural trade worldwide.