Trade

Reuters News reported this week that, “China imported 789,000 tonnes of meat in May, down 3.3% from the same month a year earlier, customs data showed on Monday, after a plunge in domestic pork prices dented appetite for imports.”

Reuters writers Hallie Gu and Gavin Maguire reported on Friday that, “China’s massive livestock sector is set to snap up millions of tonnes of wheat from the country’s winter harvest that began this month, extending a run of crop-switching in animal feed and further cooling demand for corn imports.”

On Wednesday, 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 Hui Jiang, Dylan Russell, and Adam Gerval.

Wall Street Journal writer Josh Zumbrun reported on Tuesday that, “The Biden administration initiated a dispute process against the Canadian dairy industry, triggering the formal dispute mechanism of the new U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement for the first time.”

Bloomberg writer Ailing Tan reported on Monday that, “China’s imports of American goods slowed in April, pulling back on the already incremental progress toward the purchase targets agreed with the U.S. in the 2020 trade deal.”

On Wednesday, Bloomberg writers Daniela Sirtori-Cortina and Breanna T Bradham reported that, “China has tapped the U.S. for more than a third of next season’s expected corn imports, accelerating its pace of buying from the world’s top supplier to fill its growing grain needs.”

In its monthly Livestock, Dairy, and Poultry Outlook report from Tuesday, USDA’s Economic Research Service (ERS) indicated that, “In March, the United States exported the most beef (in volume) ever recorded, totaling 300 million pounds, an increase of 12.3 percent (or 32.9 million pounds) from a year ago.”

Bloomberg writers Breanna T Bradham, Michael Hirtzer, and Dominic Carey reported on Friday that, “China made one of its biggest purchases of corn in U.S. history, a sign that its buying spree of grain off of world markets isn’t over.”

Bloomberg writers Kim Chipman and Michael Hirtzer reported on Wednesday that, “Corn prices climbed above $6 a bushel to the loftiest level in almost eight years after the U.S. said it expects China to buy an all-time high amount of the grain off global markets.”

Reuters writers Shivani Singh and Dominique Patton reported this week that, “China’s March soybean imports from Brazil plunged as rain delayed some shipments from the world’s top exporter, but U.S. bean imports rocketed more than fourfold as delayed cargoes arrived, hitting the highest monthly total since December 2016.”

Bloomberg News reported on Monday that, “China’s pork imports jumped to an all-time high in March on supply concerns following a resurgence of African swine fever in the world’s biggest consumer and producer.”

Reuters writer Dominique Patton reported late last week that, “China’s first-quarter pork production rose 31.9% from a year earlier to 13.69 million tonnes, data showed on Friday, the highest quarterly volume in two years.”

Bloomberg News reported on Tuesday that, “China imported a record amount of meat in March on supply concerns as hog herds in the world’s biggest pork consumer struggled to recover from African swine fever.”

Last week, Bloomberg writer Andy Hoffman reported that, “Agricultural commodities are poised for a “mini supercycle” as China’s rampant demand keeps supplies tight, according to the head of a key Cargill Inc. trading unit that’s seeing its best results in a decade.”

Last week, Reuters News reported that, “Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte on Wednesday reduced pork import tariffs as the government seeks to address a domestic shortage by ramping up purchases from abroad.”

This week, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) released its 2020 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 pork.

Reuters writer Dominique Patton reported late last week that, “A wave of African swine fever outbreaks this year has wiped out at least 20% of the breeding herd in northern China, industry sources and analysts said, exceeding expected losses and raising fears about the potential for further impact in the south.”

Reuters News reported last week that, “China reported an outbreak of African swine fever in Xinjiang region, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday.”

Last week, New York Times writers Vivian Yee and Peter S. Goodman reported that, “Trying to convey the sheer scale of the nearly quarter-mile-long container ship that has been stuck in the Suez Canal since Tuesday evening, some news outlets compared it to the length of four soccer fields. Others simply called it gigantic.”

Writing recently in the CARD (Center for Agricultural and Rural Development) Agricultural Policy Review, from Iowa State University (“Is China’s Hog Rebuilding Complete? Reconciling Inventory and Price Data“), Dermot Hayes, Xi He, and Wendong Zhang stated that, “The African swine fever (ASF) outbreak that started in August 2018 wiped out 40% of China’s sow inventory.