The Brazilian government is looking at boosting agricultural exports by raising some USD 58 billion in funds to finance farmers. The loans will mainly be issued in US Dollar via debt certificates but the agriculture minister said they are looking for other sources too. The Agriculture Ministry, meanwhile, will not be responsible for demarcating indigenous land as proposed by the Brazilian President last month. Congress rejected the decree ruling that the Ministry of Justice will continue to manage it. This will likely slow the President’s plan to open up indigenous lands to agriculture and mining.
The International Olympic Committee announced that the Chinese Dairy giant Mengniu Dairy, whose largest shareholder is COFCO, and Coca-Cola will be joint beverages and dairy sponsors from 2021 to 2032 – a sponsorship deal unofficially estimated at close to USD 3 billion. While the deal is widely seen as a much needed financial boost for the Olympics, Mengniu Dairy said this would help “build the positive reputation of Chinese food and beverage brands among consumers globally.” However, another Chinese dairy giant, Yili Industrial Group, said this agreement violated its own arrangement to be the sole dairy sponsor of the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing. Yili threatened to withdraw its sponsorship as a result
Euromonitor says China will beat the US as the world’s largest dairy market as early as 2022. This can appear surprising for a country where as much as three-quarters of people suffer from some form of lactose intolerance. But this is because the older generation was not used to consuming dairy products, something that government policies are reversing very fast thanks to measures such as introducing dairy in schools and recommending a higher dairy intake. Meanwhile, China’s dairy farms are reportedly cashing in on the African swine fever and selling some of their cows for beef. The price of beef has risen considerably and beef imports were up 75% year on year in April.
Talking of milk, the US startup Perfect Day, which has been working with ADM, said they have managed to make lab-grown milk protein from microflora, effectively providing a vegan and lactose-free alternative to milk protein. The protein is only part of what is in cow’s milk, and some say that replicating milk fat may be even harder. But the company says the protein can be used as an ingredient in processed dairy or in the many other foods that use modified milk ingredients such as hot dogs. The shift away from traditional meat could happen much faster, however. A report by AT Kearney forecast that by 2040, 60% of the world’s meat consumption will either be from meat grown in labs or from plant-based alternatives.
This might be timely. A new report by the ethical investor network Farm Animal Investment Risk and Return (Fairr) found that the aquaculture industry, which is currently the world’s fastest-growing food production sector – and a highly profitable one – has major negative environmental impacts. It is also a victim of climate change: aquaculture farming in south-east Asia could fall by 30% within the next 30 years due to the rising water temperature and acidification of the oceans.
In a bid to solve some of these issues, Cargill tied up with French group InnovaFeed on sustainable feed options, with a focus on fish feed made from insects. In Brazil, Cargill is acquiring swine feed producer Beckers, which supplies over half of the country’s swine output. In Singapore, the company has opened a new innovation centre, its third in the region, to work with customers on reformulating products to make them healthier while keeping the same taste.
Bunge Centerfield, the joint initiative between the group and its US farmers to collect farm-level data, announced it would be integrating Field to Market’s Fieldprint Platform which tracks various sustainability indicators. Bunge said this would enable farmers to analyse and compare their sustainability, while the information would also be available to downstream customers. COFCO International’s 2018 sustainability report, meanwhile, showed the company reduced its freshwater consumption globally by 4% and increased its energy consumption from renewable sources from 82% to 88%.
ED&F Man is looking to sell some of its under-performing sugar assets as the agri-industrial segment reported another loss for the six months ending March 31, according to sources. The group’s latest annual report showed that it closed a refinery in Israel, a factory in Chile and idled a plant in Ukraine. Other sugar players, such as Biosev and Bunge, are also reportedly looking to sell some sugar assets.
The US Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) said it had given USD 2.5 million to the whistleblower who reported Cargill in 2017 over some swap violations. Cargill had been fined USD 10 million at the time, and the CFTC added the whistleblower would have been given more money had he not delayed the reporting. Cargill, meanwhile, issued a statement saying they had made the necessary changes and that they continued to support the government’s whistleblower initiative.
How much would you pay for your coffee? There is a growing trend of coffee aficionados ready to pay up to drink unique coffee. One place in the US is selling an award-winning coffee from Panama called Elida Geisha for USD 75 per cup, officially the world’s most expensive coffee.
This summary was produced by ECRUU.
