Pork suppliers from South America and the U.S. could gain market share in China if Beijing restricts imports from the European Union in response to escalating trade tensions, traders and analysts said.
U.S. grains merchant Bunge BG. and Glencore-backed Viterra's plan to create a $34 billion agricultural trading giant will be decided by EU antitrust regulators by July 18, a European Commission filing showed on Monday.
Farmers drove hundreds of tractors into Brussels on Tuesday to protest against the European Union's environmental policies, but the action was shunned by mainstream farming groups who said it did not reflect their members' concerns.
Spanish and French farmers blocked roads along the border through the Pyrenees mountains on Monday ahead of European Parliament elections to protest against what they say is unfair competition from outside the European Union.
Poland has become a hotspot for protests that sprang up across Europe as farmers railed against cheap imports from the war-torn country, as well as restrictions placed on them by the EU's "Green Deal" to tackle climate change.
Today European Union trade ministers agreed to impose prohibitive tariffs on cereals, oilseeds and derived products from Russia and Belarus from July 1, a move the bloc said would halt imports of these products.
Thousands of protesters marched through the streets of the Polish capital Warsaw on Friday to show their opposition to European Union environmental regulations that farmers say are driving them out of business.
European Union proposals to weaken the green conditions attached to the bloc's subsidies for farmers won backing from the European Parliament on Wednesday, as policymakers attempt to quell protests across Europe.
The European Parliament voted on Tuesday to back a year-long extension to tariff-free trade for Ukrainian farm produce, while introducing new curbs on the level of imports to assuage protesting EU farmers.