Reading Time: 2 minutes Chinese buyers bought between 400,000 and 500,000 metric tons of wheat from Australia and Canada in recent weeks, traders said, as heat threatens to damage crops in China's agricultural heartlands.
China buys Canadian, Australian wheat as heat hits crop, traders say
Russia’s grain policies help Ukraine secure sales
Reading Time: 2 minutes Russia's curbs on wheat exports have inadvertently helped Ukraine secure lucrative sales to Egypt this week while also inflating prices for the world's top importer, traders said.
EU pork industry faces ‘nightmare’ if China restricts imports
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hamburg | Reuters – Europe’s pork industry faces a “nightmare scenario” of lower prices and falling profitability if China restricts imports from the region, industry executives and analysts said on Friday. Chinese firms have asked for an anti-dumping probe into pork imports from the European Union, state-backed Chinese media reported on Friday, escalating tensions after the bloc […] Read more
Europe’s grain farms await rain break after damp winter
Weak prices for maize could encourage planting other crops
Reading Time: 2 minutes Grain growers in western Europe will need rain to ease this month to progress with spring planting, after a wet February maintained soggy field conditions that have already put the region on course for a smaller wheat harvest, analysts said.
Swine fever outbreak in Germany’s top pork state poses lasting threat
Risk seen for spread to neighbours Netherlands, France
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hamburg | Reuters — The spread of African swine fever to Germany’s most important pig rearing region has dealt a serious blow to the sector with major markets such as China likely to maintain import bans for years to come, analysts said on Monday. The outbreak on a farm in Emsland, Lower Saxony is the […] Read more
Grain exporters tap EU supplies as war shuts Ukraine ports
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hamburg/Paris | Reuters — Grain exporters are looking for alternative sources of wheat and corn as a Russian invasion cuts off Ukrainian supplies, with European Union producers Romania and France being used to cover some nearby loadings, traders said Friday. The conflict has rattled grain markets, with European wheat futures surging to a record high […] Read more
Swine fever found in Germany putting pork exports at risk
Country had been fencing off borders against wild boar
Reading Time: 2 minutes Berlin/Hamburg | Reuters — Germany confirmed on Thursday that African swine fever (ASF) had been found in a dead wild boar near its border with Poland, threatening pork exports to China from Europe’s biggest pork producer, which were worth US$1.2 billion last year. Authorities in the German state of Brandenburg quarantined a 15-km area around […] Read more
Drought slashes EU wheat, export surplus to be cut
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hamburg | Reuters – Drought and a heatwave that scorched fields in northern Europe may cut the European Union’s wheat export surplus and the bloc will need to consume more of its own grains, experts said on Friday. French analysts Strategie Grains forecast a 10 percent smaller EU soft wheat harvest this year, with northern […] Read more
Straw prices soar, piling pressure on N.Europe livestock farmers
In some areas straw now more expensive than grains
Reading Time: 3 minutes Hamburg | London | Reuters – Livestock and dairy farmers across northern Europe are paying soaring prices for straw used in food and bedding for cattle, as hot, dry weather across the region reduces crops. The higher bills put further pressure on farmers already facing one of their toughest summers ever; many have had to […] Read more
Saudi Arabian agency stops buying Canadian wheat, barley
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hamburg | Reuters – Saudi Arabia’s main state wheat buying agency has told grains exporters it will no longer buy Canadian wheat and barley in its international tenders, European traders said on Tuesday, as a diplomatic dispute between the two countries escalates. Traders said they had received an official notice from the Saudi Grains Organization […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
