Photo: Thinkstock

From Black Sea to US Midwest, extreme weather threatens crop output

Hot, dry weather forecast for Russia, Ukraine in coming months; relief seen for China's corn, soybean crops hit by heatwave

Forecast dryness in the Black Sea region's breadbasket is likely to stunt sunflower and corn yields, while heavy rain in the United States after near-record temperatures threaten to take a toll on crops, hitting world supplies and pushing prices higher.


Photo: iStock

U.S. grains: Wheat and corn up over 20 per cent in 2021, soybeans edge to third year of gains

Chicago/Singapore | Reuters – U.S. corn, wheat and soybean futures were set to post yearly gains, with strong demand and supply constraints in some key production areas of the globe underpinning the markets throughout 2021. Corn futures, which have jumped 23.4 percent this year, have paced the grain markets, supported by increased feed usage by livestock as […] Read more


Farmer Anil Salunkhe feeds strawberries to a cow during a 21-day nationwide lockdown to slow the spread of COVID-19 in the Satara district in India’s Maharashtra state on April 1, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Rajendra Jadhav)

How COVID-19 is upending global food supply chains

Cows fed strawberries in India, watermelons rot in U.S., okra not reaching Canada

Satara/Singapore/London | Reuters — In the fertile Satara district in western India, farmers are putting their cattle on an unorthodox diet: Some feed iceberg lettuce to buffalo. Others feed strawberries to cows. It’s not a treat. They can either feed their crops to animals or let them spoil. And other farmers are doing just that […] Read more

Reginald Conyers, a traveling busker, plays the trumpet outside a Safeway while people observing social distancing wait in line to enter the store  in Oakland on March 20, 2020. (Photo: Reuters/Kate Munsch)

Panic buying, lockdowns may drive world food inflation

World has ample grain and oilseed supplies, FAO and analysts say

Singapore | Reuters — Lockdowns and panic food buying due to the coronavirus pandemic could ignite world food inflation even though there are ample supplies of staple grains and oilseeds in key exporting nations, a senior economist at FAO and agricultural analysts said. The world’s richest nations poured unprecedented aid into the global economy as […] Read more

China swine fever outbreak to curb its soybean imports

The disease along with high stockpiles are expected to curb Chinese soy imports

Singapore|Beijing|Reuters – China’s imports of soybeans are set to drop as an outbreak of African swine fever hits its huge pig herd and saps demand for the animal feed ingredient, making it easier for buyers to keep shunning U.S. cargoes amid the Sino-U.S. trade war. African swine fever, deadly to pigs but not harmful to […] Read more


A barge loads on the Mississippi River. American soybeans aren’t moving to China, even though they are price competitive with Brazil.

China soybean imports set for biggest drop in 12 years amid tariff conflict

China is not expected to face a shortfall in supplies because of abundant domestic reserves

Reuters – China’s soybean imports are set to drop by a quarter in the last three months of 2018, their biggest fall in at least 12 years as buyers curb purchases amid the China-U.S. trade war and high domestic stockpiles. Soybeans have been at the heart of the tit-for-tat trade dispute between the world’s top […] Read more

(Mark Wilson photo courtesy Louis Dreyfus Co.)

U.S.-China trade fears halt soybean imports

Singapore/Beijing | Reuters — China’s purchases of U.S. soybeans have come to a grinding halt, trade and industry sources say, as fears of further action by Beijing to curb imports of U.S. crops following last week’s anti-dumping move on sorghum rattles the agriculture industry. Buyers from China, which takes 60 per cent of soybeans traded […] Read more