In its monthly Grain: World Markets and Trade report for January, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) indicated that, “U.S. sorghum exports for 2022/23 are forecast down 1.5 million tons to 2.5 million (Oct-Sep), the lowest since 2018/19 and the second-lowest volume of the last decade.”
Farm Policy News
ERS: “Wholesale Table-Egg Prices Peaked in December”
In its monthly Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook report yesterday, the USDA’s Economic Research Service indicated that, “Table-egg production was estimated at 635.0 million dozen in November.”
Federal Reserve: Observations on the Ag Economy- January 2023
On Wednesday, the Federal Reserve Board released its January 2023 Beige Book update, a summary of commentary on current economic conditions by Federal Reserve District. The report included several observations pertaining to the U.S. agricultural economy.
China: Pork Prices Fall, While Soybean Production Improves, as Covid Hits Countryside
Bloomberg writer Jinglu Gu reported today that, “China is ramping up Covid preparations in rural areas ahead of Lunar New Year holidays that may unleash a surge in infections across some of the country’s poorest regions.”
In “Historic Shift,” China’s Population Falls, as its Economic Growth “Near-Historic Low”
Eleanor Olcott and Sun Yu reported yesterday at The Financial Times Online that, “China’s population fell in 2022 for the first time in decades in a historic shift that is expected to have long-term consequences for the domestic and global economies.”
FAS: Record U.S. FY 2022 Agricultural Exports to China
In a report this month from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), “Record U.S. FY 2022 Agricultural Exports to China,” Graham Soley indicated that, “U.S. agricultural exports to China in fiscal year (FY) 2022 were $36.4 billion and surpassed the previous year’s record with China as the largest export market for the second consecutive year.”
Food Prices Increased 0.3% in December, Up 10% From a Year Ago- Eggs Climb 59.9% Annually
Financial Times writers Colby Smith and Kate Duguid reported yesterday that, “Annual US inflation fell in December to its lowest level in more than a year, in a further sign that price pressures have peaked amid the Federal Reserve’s historic campaign to tighten monetary policy.”
China’s Population Likely Shrinking, India May Become Most Populous Country This Year
Earlier this week, Bloomberg News reported that, “China’s population likely started shrinking last year for the first time in decades, experts say, a significant milestone that will have long-term repercussions for the economy.”
Covid “Hammering” Rural Areas in China, While Wheat, Soybean, Rice Variables in Focus
Bloomberg News reported yesterday that, “Omicron has swept through China’s major cities including Beijing, Shanghai and Guangzhou, overwhelming hospitals and causing widely-reported, if officially unrecorded, fatalities.”
Deere Reaches Deal to Allow Farmers to Repair Own Equipment
Patience Haggin reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “Machinery manufacturer Deere & Co. signed a memorandum of understanding with the American Farm Bureau Federation on Sunday that the group said ensures farmers can repair their own farm equipment or take it to independent repair shops.”
China Concerned About Farmers, Countryside as Covid Surges
Late last week, Bloomberg writer Jinglu Gu reported that, “China has asked farmers to avoid large gatherings and send their Lunar New Year greetings virtually to try and curb the impact of a severe wave of Covid-19 in the countryside.”
In Divided House, “Fractiousness Could Threaten Some Significant Bills,” Including the Farm Bill
Nolan D. McCaskill reported on the front page of Saturday’s Los Angeles Times that, “Kevin McCarthy (R., Calif.) was elected speaker of the House early Saturday morning after four days and 15 ballots, resuscitating a chamber that had been paralyzed as it endured its longest struggle to elect a leader since before the Civil War.”
World Food Prices Dropped in December; China Demand in Focus; and Mississippi Barge Rates Normalize
Bloomberg writer Megan Durisin reported today that, “After a year marred by disruptions from the war in Ukraine and extreme weather, global food prices ended 2022 roughly where they started.”
Farm Bill Backdrop: “Pace of New Legislation is Expected to Slow,” as Divided Government Returns
Wall Street Journal writers Katy Stech Ferek and Natalie Andrews reported in Tuesday’s paper that, “A new era of divided government dawns this week as the 118th Congress begins, with Republicans looking to deploy their power with a fragile majority in the House and Democrats doing the same in the Senate.”
China: Road to Recovery Could “Be Uneven and Painful”
Keith Bradsher reported on the front page of Tuesday’s New York Times that, “China’s reversal of its Covid restrictions in early December was meant to help places like Guangzhou [the commercial hub of southern China]. But the chaotic approach has contributed to a tsunami of infections that has swept across the nation, overwhelming hospitals and funeral parlors.”
Global Food Crisis: Russia’s War With Ukraine “Contributing to Widespread Starvation,” and “Injects Volatility Into Grain Futures”
Edward Wong and Ana Swanson reported on the front page of today’s New York Times that, “Hulking ships carrying Ukrainian wheat and other grains are backed up along the Bosporus here in Istanbul as they await inspections before moving on to ports around the world.”
After September Peak, Dollar Rally Eases- Trade Implications
Chelsey Dulaney reported in Friday’s Wall Street Journal that, “The U.S. dollar’s rally in 2022 gave the world a reminder of the currency’s ability to inflict pain on the global economy. Investors are optimistic that the dollar’s strength has now run its course.”
WOTUS Update, “EPA Revises Clean-Water Protections”
Washington Post writer Scott Dance reported in Saturday’s paper that, “The Biden administration on Friday imposed a rule expanding the definition of waterways that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has authority to regulate, a move that reverses a Trump-era change and seeks to overcome nearly a decade of challenges to EPA powers, including a pending Supreme Court case.”
Small Towns and Wind Farms, Energy Policy in Focus; While Cover Crops Garner Attention
David Gelles reported on the front page of today’s New York Times that, “Depressed property values. Flickering shadows. Falling ice. One by one, a real estate appraiser rattled off what he said were the deleterious effects of wind farms as a crowd in an agricultural community in central Illinois hung on his every word.”
China Demand, Argentina Weather Impacting Soybean Prices, Recent Cold Spell Causes Winter-Kill Worries in Wheat
Bloomberg writers Tatiana Freitas and Megan Durisin reported yesterday that, “Soybean futures jumped to the highest in six months on expectations for greater demand from China and as dry conditions in parts of South America threaten supply.”