Coffee prices topped 3 US dollars a pound in New York for the first time since 1977, as prospects of another production deficit combined with a sliding dollar to encourage fund buying.
Cuba announced Friday that it will have to spend 25% more than its original estimates to pay the cost of food imports due to the international surge in commodity prices.
The European Commission will be presenting in the next weeks a report on the consequences for the European agriculture of a trade agreement with Mercosur, announced EU Agriculture Commissioner Dacian Ciolos following a Thursday meeting of the Agriculture Council in Luxembourg.
Wines of Argentina are gearing up for its first ever Malbec World Day, a global celebration of Argentina’s ‘hero’ grape variety, according to worldwide drinks industry news Harpers Wine & Spirit.
The Eurogroup for Animals called on the European Union to demand from Mercosur farmers associations and governments the same ‘animal well-being’ requisites and regulations which their European counterparts must comply with.
The Chilean wine company Viña Montes plans to invest 20 million US dollars in vineyards on the other side of the Andes in neighbouring Argentina, where it expects to double production over the next five years.
China plans to invest ten billion US dollars in the production, storage and transport of soybeans in Brazil to ensure the supply of the commodity of which it is the world’s main importer, according to press reports in Beijing.
European Union Agriculture ministers will be meeting this week in Luxembourg to discuss the current trade negotiations with Mercosur, according to European Commission sources.
With stronger local currencies Mercosur main beef exporters, Brazil and Uruguay are finding it more profitable to supply their domestic markets than exporting, in spite of growing international demand.
Paraguay’s 2010/11 soy bean crop covers 2.830.000 hectares (twice the area ten years ago) and the expected yield is between 2.900 and 3.100 kilos per hectare according to the latest satellite pictures in hands of the Paraguayan Chamber of Grains and Oilseed Exporters, Capeco.
So far the record yield dates back to 2003 with a national average of 2.915 kilos.