Reuters writer Max Hunder reported today that, “Inspections of ships are resuming under a U.N.-brokered agreement on the safe export of grain from Ukrainian Black Sea ports, Ukrainian Deputy Prime Minister Oleksandr Kubrakov said on Wednesday.”
Keith Good
Keith Good is the Farm Policy News editor for the farmdoc project. He has previously worked for the USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service, and compiled the daily FarmPolicy.com News Summary from 2003-2015. He is a graduate of Purdue University (M.S.- Agricultural Economics), and Southern Illinois University School of Law.
Ukrainian Farm Export Disruptions Continue, as Drought Impacts on U.S. Wheat Persist
Bloomberg writers Daryna Krasnolutska and Aine Quinn reported today that, “Ukraine said its crop shipments through the Black Sea safe-passage corridor remained suspended for a second day, adding to uncertainty about future supplies from the key agriculture exporter.”
EU: Poland, Hungary Bans on Ukrainian Farm Imports, “Unacceptable,” as “India’s Population Surpasses China’s”
Raphael Minder, Barbara Erling, Andy Bounds and Marton Dunai reported yesterday at The Financial Times Online that, “Poland and Hungary have temporarily halted imports of Ukrainian grain despite a warning from Brussels that such unilateral action would contravene EU trade policy.”
Concerns Over Black Sea Grain Initiative Persist, as Poland, Hungary Block Ukrainian Ag Imports
Reuters writer Michelle Nichols reported late last week that, “U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has written to Russia, Ukraine and Turkey to raise concerns about the implementation of a deal that allows the safe wartime export of grain from several Ukrainian Black Sea ports, a U.N. spokesman said on Friday.”
Fertilizer Prices Continue “Shift Lower”
DTN writer Russ Quinn reported last week that, “Retail fertilizer continues to shift lower, according to prices tracked by DTN for the first full week of April 2023. The trend has been in place since the beginning of the year.”
USDA Testing Bird Flu Vaccines
Nidhi Subbaraman reported in Saturday’s Wall Street Journal that, “To stop the devastating global bird-flu outbreak that has killed over 100 million poultry, the U.S. and Europe are embracing a tactic many countries have long resisted: vaccines.”
China Soybean Imports “Highest on Record For the Quarter,” as “Lula Seeks Deeper Trade Ties in China Visit”
Reuters writers Qin Ningwei and Dominique Patton reported yesterday that, “China’s soybean imports in March rose 7.9% from the same month a year earlier, data showed on Thursday, as buyers in China stocked up ahead of expected strong demand.”
Grocery Prices Declined in March, Eggs “Posted the Biggest Single-Month Drop since 1987”
Gwynn Guilford and Nick Timiraos reported on the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal that, “U.S. inflation eased in March to its lowest level in nearly two years, but underlying price pressures likely keep the door open for the Federal Reserve to consider another interest-rate increase at its May meeting.”
FAS: China Becomes World’s Largest Wheat Importer; Argentina Corn, Soybean Production Estimates Fall
In its monthly Grain: World Markets and Trade report yesterday, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) indicated that, “China wheat imports are forecast up to 12.0 million tons this year—the country’s highest level of imports since 1995/96 when imports reached 12.5 million.”
U.S. Winter Wheat Condition Deteriorates; China-Australia Trade Tensions Ease; and Bird Flu Concerns Persist
DTN Managing Editor Anthony Greder reported yesterday that, “U.S. winter wheat condition, already the lowest in decades, dropped another point last week, USDA NASS reported in its weekly Crop Progress Report on Monday.”
Concerns Over Black Sea Grain Deal
Late last week, Reuters writers Huseyin Hayatsever and Guy Faulconbridge reported that, “Russia on Friday threatened to bypass the UN-brokered grain deal unless obstacles to its agricultural exports were removed, while talks in Turkey agreed removing barriers was a necessary condition to extending the agreement beyond next month.”
Fertilizer Prices Continued to Fall in March
DTN writer Russ Quinn reported last week that, “All average retail fertilizer prices were down from last month in the fourth full week of March 2023, according to sellers surveyed by DTN.”
World Food Prices Fell Again in March, Down 21% From Last Year’s Record High
Bloomberg writer Agnieszka de Sousa reported today that, “Global food costs fell for a 12th straight month to reach the lowest level since July 2021, though there is still little sign the rout is actually feeding through to grocery shelves.”
After “Price Shocks,” Grain Prices Fall Back to Pre-War Levels, Food Inflation Concerns Persist
In its April Market Monitor report, the Agricultural Market Information System (AMIS) indicated that, “Over the past 10 months, world prices of most grains and oilseeds have fallen back to levels prior to the war in Ukraine.”
“Big Shift in American Farm Policy” – Farming as a Low-Carbon Energy Producer
Keith Schneider reported in today’s New York Times that, “Despite federal and state programs to convert corn into ethanol and soybeans into biodiesel to fuel cars and trucks, the United States has never before regarded farming as a primary energy producer.”
“Farming Marshall Plan” Needed For Ukraine, as Wheat Variables Garner Attention
Wall Street Journal writers Patrick Thomas and Alistair MacDonald reported today that, “Foreign countries and some of the world’s largest agriculture companies are donating or lending hundreds of millions of dollars to Ukrainian farmers, marking an early push by Kyiv’s allies to rebuild the country even as the war shows little sign of ending soon.”
Some Eastern European Countries Worry About Local Grain Glut From Ukrainian Imports
Late last week, Bloomberg writers Piotr Skolimowski, Irina Vilcu and Megan Durisin reported that, “Blocked border crossings, a minister pelted with eggs and overflowing silos — anger is mounting among farmers in eastern Europe who say a rush of grain from Ukraine threatens their businesses, and it’s steadily eroding political goodwill.”
ERS: “China’s Agricultural Imports Appear to Remain Short of Their Full Potential”
In an Amber Waves article last week from the USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS), Stephen Morgan, Fred Gale, Jayson Beckman, Ethan Sabala, Danielle J. Ufer, Adriana Valcu-Lisman, and Wendy Zeng indicated that, “China imported more than $205 billion of agricultural products in 2021, including more than $37 billion from the United States.”
Quick Take: Farmland Values “Could Level Off”
Daniel Grant reported recently at FarmWeekNow.com that, “The meteoric rise of farmland values in 2021-22 could level off this year.”
DTN: Fertilizer Prices Continue on a “Steady March Lower Since the Beginning of the Year”
DTN writer Russ Quinn reported last week that, “All retail fertilizer prices continued to decline in the third full week of March 2023, according to sellers surveyed by DTN. Prices have been on a steady march lower since the beginning of the year.”