Trade

In a report yesterday from USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS), “U.S. Beef Exports to East Asia on Record Pace,” Ivan Lee indicated that, “U.S. beef exports to East Asia in 2022 are again on record pace after a record year in 2021.”

Earlier this week, Reuters writers Dominique Patton, Roxanne Liu and Bernard Orr reported that, “President Xi Jinping wants China to accelerate efforts to achieve self-reliance in agricultural technology, identifying seed development and core equipment among areas to focus on, state media reported.”

Bloomberg writer Ana Monteiro reported yesterday that, “The US is requesting dispute-settlement consultations for a third time over Canada’s dairy quotas, saying it has found more areas of ‘deep concern’ and that the nation’s measures are inconsistent with its obligations under a North American trade pact.”

Reuters writer Valentine Hilaire reported late last week that, “Mexico and the United States aim to reach an agreement in January over a pending Mexican ban on imports of genetically modified (GM) corn, the Mexican foreign ministry said on Friday after officials from the two countries held talks in Washington.”

Wall Street Journal writers Jason Douglas and Sha Hua reported in Friday’s paper that, “China’s economy took a hit in November in what economists hope will be the last big squeeze on growth from a zero-tolerance strategy toward Covid-19 that Beijing has since abandoned.”

Reuters writer Cassandra Garrison reported late last week that, “A group of bipartisan U.S. lawmakers called on Trade Representative on Friday to start consultations under the U.S.-Mexico-Canada trade agreement (USMCA) over Mexico’s ban on genetically modified (GM) corn and the herbicide glyphosate.”

Selina Cheng reported on the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal that, “China dropped many of its quarantine and testing requirements and curtailed the power of local officials to shut down entire city blocks, as the government accelerates plans to dismantle zero-Covid controls in the wake of nationwide protests.”

On Tuesday, the USDA released its Outlook for U.S. Agricultural Trade, a quarterly report from the Department’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) and Economic Research Service (ERS).  Today’s update includes highlights from the report, which was coordinated by Bart Kenner, Hui Jiang, Dylan Russell and James Kaufman.

Lingling Wei, Brian Spegele and Wenxin Fan reported on the front page of today’s Wall Street Journal that, “Protests are erupting in major cities in China over President Xi Jinping‘s zero-tolerance approach to Covid-19, an unusual show of defiance in the country as the economic and social costs from snap lockdowns and other strict restrictions escalate.”

Bloomberg writer Tarso Veloso Ribeiro reported yesterday that, “The first vessel carrying Brazilian corn to China is set to sail Wednesday after a deal earlier this year between the two nations.”

Financial Times writers Roman Olearchyk and Ayla Jean Yackley reported today that, “Ukraine says negotiators from Kyiv and Moscow have agreed to prolong a UN and Turkish-brokered Black Sea grain export agreement, a crucial step to alleviating a global food crisis triggered by the conflict.”

In its monthly Wheat Outlook report earlier this week, the USDA’s Economic Research Service pointed out that, “2022/23 global ending stocks are projected up 0.3 MMT to 267.8 MMT but remain the tightest since 2016/17.”

Bloomberg News reported today that, “Russia is expected to agree to extend a United Nations-brokered deal allowing exports of Ukrainian grain and other farm products from the Black Sea, ensuring a vital flow of foodstuffs to the world market.”

Ivan Nechepurenko and Matthew Mpoke Bigg reported in today’s New York Times that, “Russia on Wednesday rejoined an agreement allowing the shipment of Ukrainian grain through the Black Sea, one of the few areas of cooperation amid the war in Ukraine, easing uncertainty over the fate of a deal seen as crucial to preventing famine in other parts of the world.”

Financial Times writers Ayla Jean Yackley and Max Seddon reported today that, “Grain shipments from Ukraine will resume on Wednesday after Russia agreed to rejoin a UN-backed initiative to allow their export, ending a stand-off that threatened to reignite a global food crisis.”

Jared Malsin and Alistair MacDonald reported in today’s Wall Street Journal that, “Russia threatened to stop vessels carrying grain from Ukraine, two days after Moscow said it would abandon an agreement that guaranteed the safety of those exports and as ships continued to make the voyages Monday anyway.”

Bloomberg writers Selcan Hacaoglu, Agnieszka de Sousa, and Daryna Krasnolutska reported yesterday that, “Turkey, the UN and others looked for ways to salvage the Ukrainian grain export initiative after Moscow said it would pull out indefinitely following an attack on its Black Sea naval fleet.”

Financial Times writers Polina Ivanova, Christopher Miller and Emiko Terazono reported yesterday that, “Moscow has suspended its participation in a UN-backed deal with Kyiv that unblocked the movement of Ukrainian grain out of its southern ports, threatening to deepen the global food crisis.”