Trade

Reuters writers Hallie Gu and Gavin Maguire reported this week that, “Chinese farmers have sharply increased corn planting this year to cash in on demand-fuelled record prices, a trend that is likely to cool the country’s recent rampant appetite for imports heading into 2022.”

A report on Thursday from the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) post in Beijing (“China: Grain and Feed Update”) stated that, “Post’s MY2021/22 corn import forecast is 20 MMT, 6 MMTs below USDA’s official forecast with the expectation that demand softens as corn imported during the current marketing year enters commercial channels, stock building moderates, and the expansion of domestic corn area results in greater production.”

Late last week, the USDA’s Foreign Agricultural Service (FAS) released a report titled, “Early Months Suggest a Bright 2021 for United States Agricultural Exports.”

Late last week, Wall Street Journal writer Jacky Wong reported that, “Prices of everything seem to be going up this year. Pork prices in China are doing the opposite as a different sort of health crisis eases. That’s tough news for the global pork industry, but a welcome respite for pork buyers everywhere.”

Bloomberg News reported this week that, “China’s hog population rose 24% in the year through May and has now almost fully recovered from the recent resurgence in African swine fever, according to the country’s agriculture ministry.”

Late last week, Reuters writer Karl Plume reported that, “Chinese state-owned importers bought at least eight cargo shipments of U.S. soybeans on Friday, or at least 480,000 tonnes, the country’s largest U.S. soybean purchases in 4-1/2 months, two U.S. traders familiar with the deals said.”

Financial Times writers Hudson Lockett and Thomas Hale reported this week that, “Hog futures in China have fallen to record lows as mass slaughtering of pigs prompts fears that the world’s second-biggest economy faces a deluge of pork.”

Bloomberg News reported on Friday that, “China’s embarked on a record corn-buying spree this year and some vessels have been delayed for as long as a month outside southern ports because of congestion, incurring hefty demurrage fees.”

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.”