Trade

Reuters writer Pavel Polityuk reported yesterday that, “Ukraine’s farmers have sown around 31% of the area expected for the 2022 spring crops sowing, or 4.7 million hectares, Ukrainian grain traders union UGA said on Tuesday, citing official data.”

Wall Street Journal writers Jesse Newman and Patrick Thomas reported on the front page of today’s paper that, “From India to Ireland, governments are moving to fill a void from the Black Sea region that could total tens of millions of tons of grain. They are paying farmers to sow more crops and are enlisting railcars and additional containers to move wheat.”

Christine Hauser reported in today’s New York Times that, “First the coronavirus, then the war. Just as the pandemic caused shortages of essential items, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine has disrupted important food supplies, driving up prices of staples like cooking oil in supermarkets around the world.”

Ana Swanson reported on the front page of today’s New York Times that, “Ukraine has limited exports of sunflower oil, wheat, oats and cattle in an attempt to protect its war-torn economy. Russia has banned sales of fertilizer, sugar and grains to other nations.”

Reuters writers Rajendra Jadhav and Mayank Bhardwaj reported today that, “But a rare confluence of high international prices, consecutive record crops, a weaker rupee against the dollar and improved internal logistics have made [wheat] shipments from India attractive.”

Bloomberg writers Eko Listiyorini, Anuradha Raghu, and Rieka Rahadiana reported yesterday that, “Indonesia, the world’s biggest edible oils shipper, will widen an export ban to include crude palm oil, adding to uncertainty in a market that’s suffered dizzying price swings and threatening to worsen global food inflation.” 

Reuters writer Joseph Campbell reported yesterday that, “Ukrainian farmers in the southern region of Zaporizhzhia which borders the frontline of the military conflict with Russia are now wearing body armour to plough their fields.”

Reuters writer Bernadette Christina reported yesterday that, “Indonesia’s agriculture ministry said on Monday that crude palm oil shipments would be excluded from a planned palm oil export ban, according to a copy of an official letter sent to local government leaders.”

Reuters writers Naveen Thukral and Mei Mei Chu reported today that, “Global vegetable oil prices climbed on Monday to trade near multi-year highs, as Indonesia’s decision to ban palm oil exports heightened concerns about global food supplies.”

Bloomberg writers Aine Quinn and Volodymyr Verbyany reported today that, “Ukraine is the world’s largest producer of sunflower oil and ranks among the top six exporters of wheat, corn, chicken and even honey.”

Reuters writer Nigel Hunt reported yesterday that, “Soybean oil prices soared to a record high on Friday as Indonesia’s decision to effectively ban exports of palm oil heightened concerns about already depleted global supplies of alternative vegetable oils.”

Reuters News reported yesterday that, “Ukrainian farmers have sown 2.5 million hectares of spring crops so far in 2022, 20% of the expected area, the agriculture ministry said on Thursday, adding that areas of intense conflict could see a drop of 70% of the sowing area.”

Financial Times writers Michael Pooler, Bryan Harris and Lucinda Elliott reported yesterday that, “Alongside the sugarcane and soyabeans that sprout from his fields in the interior of São Paulo state, this year José Odilon De Lima Neto plans on sowing a different crop for the first time.”

Last week, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) released its 2021 U.S. Agricultural Export Yearbook, a statistical summary of U.S. agricultural commodity exports.  Today’s update includes highlights from the report, with a focus on soybeans, corn and wheat.

Reuters writer Pavel Polityuk reported yesterday that, “Ukraine’s agriculture ministry on Friday revised up its forecast for the area to be sown to 2022 spring crops, giving no reason for the new outlook.”

Bloomberg News reported yesterday that, “Seven weeks after its invasion of Ukraine, Russia is still exporting grain to some of its biggest customers, even as shipping costs soar.” 

Bloomberg writers Megan Durisin, Abdel Latif Wahba, and Salma El Wardany reported yesterday that, “Egypt, the world’s biggest wheat buyer, is accelerating efforts to ensure the supplies needed to feed its citizens as the war in Ukraine upends the global grains trade.”

Bloomberg writer Aliaksandr Kudrytski reported yesterday that, “About half of Ukraine’s land area needs to be checked for explosives left by Russian forces, highlighting the challenges farmers in the agriculture powerhouse face in planting crops at a crucial time in the season.”

Emma Bubola, Valeriya Safronova and Maria Varenikova reported in today’s New York Times that, “In the past six weeks, Russian shells have destroyed Ukrainian cities, homes, hospitals and schools. But the war has also reached deep into the fertile plains of a region known as Europe’s breadbasket, paralyzing harvests, destroying granaries and crops, and bringing potentially devastating consequences to a country that produces a large share of the world’s grain.”

In a report last week, “The Ukraine Conflict and Other Factors Contributing to High Commodity Prices and Food Insecurity,” the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) indicated that, “A number of factors have converged over the last 18 months to send global agricultural commodity prices to near-record levels.”