Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters – Brazil is expected to win a larger share of China’s soybean imports in coming months, hitting U.S. exporters during the peak marketing season for their most valuable farm product as the world grapples with a fifth consecutive bumper crop. China is expected to buy about five million tonnes of soybeans from Brazil for […] Read more
Brazil cuts into U.S. soybean market share in China
U.S. grains: Soybeans fall on Argentina weather
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — U.S. soybean futures fell to a 1-1/2-week low on Wednesday on an improved South American crop weather outlook while corn edged higher on export demand, traders said. Wheat sagged on ample old-crop supplies and a lack of supportive news. Chicago Board of Trade March soybean futures settled down 3-1/4 cents at $10.55-1/4 per […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat rises on dry weather worries
Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris/Singapore | Reuters –– Chicago wheat futures rose on Monday, snapping a two-session fall, as dry weather in some U.S. and European wheat belts stirred concern in a market that has been weighed down by the prospect of record global supplies this season. Soybeans lost more ground as U.S. farmers are expected to boost the […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat rises for a second day on short-covering
Reading Time: 2 minutes Singapore/Paris | Reuters, 7:01 a.m. CT –– Chicago wheat futures prices rose for a second session on Friday with short-covering ahead of the Labour Day holiday weekend supporting prices, although the trend was set for a second week of declines amid plentiful world supplies. Corn was up for a second day, recovering from a multi-year […] Read more
China’s farmers switch to soy amid corn market reform
Reading Time: 3 minutes Reuters — Wang Zhonghai, a 49-year-old farmer in China’s top corn producing province of Heilongjiang, plans to switch 80 per cent of his land to cultivate soybeans this year as the government ends a near-decade-old corn price support scheme. China announced last week it will stop its corn stockpiling program and allow markets to set […] Read more
El Nino has emerged, Asia braces for crop damage
Reading Time: 4 minutes Singapore | Reuters –– In 2009, the El Nino brought the worst drought in four decades to India. It razed wheat fields in Australia and damaged crops across Asia. Food prices surged. A closely watched forecast by Japan on Tuesday confirmed its return this year. A strong El Nino will roil economies that are heavily […] Read more
China expected to boost imports of protein-rich wheat
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing/Singapore | Reuters — Chinese wheat buyers are likely to step up imports of higher quality grains to meet a domestic shortfall even though total overseas purchases are forecast to tumble this year due to bumper production at home, analysts and traders said. China, the world’s biggest wheat producer and consumer, has seen output climb […] Read more
Asia’s mills eye Canada’s wheat as Australian supply slows
Reading Time: 2 minutes Singapore | Reuters — Asian flour millers are looking at buying Canadian spring wheat for shipment early next year as supplies from drought-hit Australia are likely to remain slow, traders said. Canadian western red spring wheat is being offered at around $345 a tonne, including cost and freight, nearly unchanged from last week, while Australia […] Read more
Australian farmers hold back wheat sales as dryness curbs yields
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Australian farmers are holding back wheat crop sales as dryness in parts of the country’s eastern grain belt cuts yields, raising the likelihood for a boost to global prices that have dropped 13 per cent this year. Farmers in the world’s fourth biggest wheat exporter have sold only about a quarter of this […] Read more
China’s Cofco to pay $1.5B for stake in Noble agribusiness
Reading Time: 3 minutes Singapore/Hong Kong | Reuters — Cofco Corp. has agreed to pay US$1.5 billion for a majority stake in Noble Group’s agribusiness, its second acquisition in less than two months, as China’s largest grain trader seeks to strengthen its market position worldwide. The two companies plan to form a joint venture, in which Cofco will own […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
