US – China resumes buying US soya beans

This week, Chinese buyers purchased several large shipments of US soya beans. This is the first time China has bought US soya beans since the start of the trade dispute between the two countries. For 2019/20, Chinese soya bean imports are forecast at 80m tonnes – down from 85m tonnes last year.

Australia – wheat production estimates slashed

Abares, the Australian grain market analyst, has cut its forecast for Australian wheat production in 2019 by more than 2m tonnes to a new estimate of 19m tonnes due to drought conditions. This will still be higher than Australia’s wheat crop in 2018, which was very poor at 17m tonnes.

Brazil – beef exports soar in August

Brazil continues to see double-digit growth in its monthly beef exports, with shipments in August up 16% year on year close to 126,500t. Brazil exported almost 37,300t of beef to China in August, which outdid all previous records and is 11% ahead of the same month last year.

France – milk production falls in July

French milk production for July stood at 1.9bn litres, which is down almost 1% year on year. For the first seven months of 2019 (Jan-July), French milk production stands at 14.2bn litres, which is just over 1% behind last year.