Food and agriculture have been making the headlines, with Indonesia\u2019s ban on palm exports adding fuel to the food price fire caused by Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Bloomberg<\/a> and the FT<\/a> explain the gravity of the situation, and Reuters explains the build-up to Indonesia\u2019s export ban<\/a> while warning that there is no plan B<\/a>.<\/p>\n BloombergQuint has a long read on the fertiliser shortage<\/a>, writing, \u201cFor the first time ever, farmers the world over \u2014 all at the same time \u2014 are testing the limits of how little chemical fertiliser they can apply without devastating their yields come harvest time. Early predictions are bleak.\u201d<\/p>\n Other articles were less well-informed. The NY Times writes, \u201cPrior to the war, Russia and Ukraine together exported over one-fourth of the world\u2019s wheat<\/a>.\u201d (The world\u2019s farmers produced 776 mln mt of wheat in 2020\/21 and exported 202 mln mt, of which Ukraine and Russia exported 55 mln mt.)<\/p>\n Ukraine exported 567,991 mt of grain via rail<\/a> through 27th<\/sup> April and has shipped its first Panamax-sized bulk carrier of Ukrainian corn<\/a> since the Russian invasion from Constanta in Romania. At the same time, Ukraine\u2019s spring sowing campaign<\/a> continues to progress, advancing by another 570,000 hectares, or four percentage points, between 21st<\/sup>-25th<\/sup> April.<\/p>\n Indonesia widened its vegoil export ban<\/a> to crude palm oil, raising concerns over food protectionism<\/a>. There is some discussion about how long the ban will last<\/a> as the country may run out of storage capacity<\/a> and restart exports<\/a> as early as May. In the meantime, Indonesia\u2019s navy has already seized two palm oil shipments<\/a>. The ban has raised awareness of palm oil’s role in our diets<\/a>.<\/p>\n The UK Food Standards Agency has ruled that, due to exceptional circumstances<\/a>, products labelled as containing sunflower oil may now also include fully refined palm, coconut, or soybean oils without changes to the labels.<\/p>\n It’s an ill wind that blows nobody any good. Indonesian palm oil growers will suffer<\/a> because of the ban, but Malaysian palm growers benefit from higher palm prices. Counter-intuitively, Malaysia has urged countries to reconsider their biofuel programmes<\/a> despite recently committing to continue<\/a> their own biofuel programme.<\/p>\n India\u2019s wheat farmers and exporters benefit from higher wheat prices<\/a>, and exports are already flowing<\/a>. However, an unusually early record-shattering heatwave<\/a> has reduced Indian wheat yields, raising questions about how much wheat the country can export. Meanwhile, the US President has asked Congress for $500 million<\/a> to encourage US farmers to double-crop their fields and grow more wheat.<\/p>\n Bunge<\/a> and ADM<\/a> published better than expected results, and Bloomberg drew attention to the impact of higher volatility<\/a> on traders\u2019 profits. The news agency issued an opinion entitled \u201cCommodity Traders Can\u2019t Go \u2018Unregulated\u2019 anymore.\u201d<\/a> Cargill, however, worries about increased transport costs and argues that it is getting too expensive to export soybeans<\/a> from Brazil.<\/p>\n Scientists are using satellites to monitor methane gas emissions<\/a> from livestock farms. Meanwhile, cow masks that capture methane gas<\/a> have won an award as part of the UK\u2019s Prince of Wales\u2019s Sustainable Markets Initiative. The devices could reduce methane emissions from cow burps by more than 50 per cent.<\/p>\n