{"id":7851,"date":"2022-09-02T14:38:13","date_gmt":"2022-09-02T14:38:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/?p=7851"},"modified":"2022-09-02T14:38:13","modified_gmt":"2022-09-02T14:38:13","slug":"media-monitor-5","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/2022\/09\/02\/media-monitor-5\/","title":{"rendered":"Media Monitor"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The UN FAO world food price index fell for the fifth month in a row<\/a> in August, averaging 138.0 points versus a revised 140.7 in July. The index has fallen from 159.7 points in March but is still 7.9 per cent higher than a year earlier.<\/p>\n

As a hopeful sign, fertilizer prices are easing (a little)<\/a>. Even so, Forbes argues that farmers still need to up their N-game<\/a> and use fertilizers more efficiently.<\/p>\n

Freight rates are also falling. Container rates have fallen<\/a> 40-46 per cent from last year, while Capesize time charter rates have dropped<\/a> below $1000\/day on the transatlantic route, \u00a0beating a March 2016 record low of $1,015 per day.<\/p>\n

By the end of August<\/span>, 62 ships had left Ukrainian ports<\/a>, transporting about 1.5 mln mt of grains and oilseeds. However, the UN warns<\/a> that Ukraine must ship millions of tonnes of grain from its previous harvest to make room in their silos for the new crop.<\/p>\n

To facilitate<\/a> shipments, Ukraine will allow merchant sailors to leave Ukraine if they receive approval from their local military administrative body. The government bans men aged 18-60 from leaving the country.<\/p>\n

A new 320-nautical-mile route for shipments<\/a> from Ukraine\u2019s ports of Odesa, Chornomorsk and Pivdennyi\/Yuzhny may also facilitate shipments.<\/p>\n

The UN has scaled down its talk of a food crisis<\/a> and says the problem is affordability, not availability. Business Insider disagrees<\/a>. It predicts that next year\u2019s food crisis will be worse than this year\u2019s due to a drop in production, particularly in Ukraine. It quotes a McKinsey report<\/a> that estimates Ukraine’s grain production will drop by 35-45 per cent next harvest.<\/p>\n

As of 25th<\/sup> August, Ukrainian farmers had harvested<\/a> 25.3 mln mt of new crop grain, including 18.8 mln mt of wheat. The Food Ministry expects grain and oilseed production to reach 65-67 mln mt this year.<\/p>\n

The FAO has lowered its forecast<\/a> for global cereal production in 2022\/23 to 2.774 billion mt, down 1.4 per cent from last season. The agency pegs world cereal use at 2.792 billion mt, leading to a projected 2.1 per cent fall in global stocks.<\/p>\n

The USDA estimates<\/a> US agricultural exports for the fiscal year 2023 at $193.5 billion, down from a record $196 billion in 2022. The USDA sees lower exports of cotton, beef, and sorghum partially offset by higher exports of soybeans and horticultural products.<\/p>\n

For the past 30 years, the average return on US farmland<\/a>, adjusted for inflation, has been around 5 per cent, making it an attractive investment. The USDA estimates that non-farming landlords own 30 per cent of the country\u2019s farmland.<\/p>\n

Canada\u2019s wheat production will increase<\/a> 55 per cent this year to 34.6 mln mt as yields improve amid better moisture and more moderate temperatures, making 2022 the third best harvest since records began in 1908. Last year\u2019s drought-stricken crop was the worst since 2007. Canadian farmers will harvest<\/a> more canola, barley, oats, soybeans, and corn in 2022 compared to last year.<\/p>\n

Malaysia\u2019s palm oil industry<\/a> fears a significant drop in production this year due to a shortage of around 120,000 workers. Producers expect to leave six mln mt of fresh fruit bunches unharvested, equal to one mln mt of vegetable oil.<\/p>\n

This year, drought and extreme heat have decimated<\/a> Texan cotton production, costing farmers at least $2 billion.<\/p>\n

Politico argues that the 350 companies that account for more than half of the world\u2019s food and agriculture revenue are not doing enough<\/a> to adapt to climate change. \u00a0It writes that many companies are continuing to operate as if it\u2019s business as usual.<\/p>\n

In an exception that proves the rule, wine producers may benefit<\/a> from hotter and drier climates.<\/p>\n

China is investing<\/a> heavily in overseas agriculture. \u00a0Goldman Sachs reports<\/a> that Chinese grain yields are 40 per cent lower than in the US, putting production costs about twice as high as America\u2019s. It takes Chinese farmers between 6 and 26 per cent more grain to produce a kilo of pork or chicken than it does their American counterparts.<\/p>\n

The UK\u2019s Agriculture Minister has told the FT that British farmers have nothing to fear<\/a> from newly signed trade agreements with Australia and New Zealand.<\/p>\n

The container-shipping line AP M\u00f8ller-Maersk has completed<\/a> its $3.6bn acquisition of LF Logistics, announced in December. Maersk and other container shipping lines are reinvesting record profits to build integrated supply chains.<\/p>\n

Synthetic milk, produced using fermentation<\/a>, may threaten the dairy industry. \u00a0Unlike artificial meat \u2013 which can struggle to match the complexity and texture of animal meat \u2013 synthetic milk is touted as having the same taste, look, and feel as regular dairy milk.<\/p>\n

Brazilian Presidential candidate Lula has pledged<\/a> to step up the conservation of the Amazon rainforest by bolstering the environmental protection agency Ibama and increasing enforcement.<\/p>\n

A new report<\/a> finds that the US government drastically underestimates the social cost of carbon dioxide emissions. The US currently puts that cost at around $51\/mt, but new research puts the figure at $185\/mt.<\/p>\n

Scientists are studying the effect of ozone pollution<\/a> on crop yields and are working on new crop varieties.<\/p>\n

Finally, Sifted questions whether vertical farming<\/a> will survive a recession. Will people buy vertically grown basil in a cost-of-living crisis?<\/p>\n

You can find Bloomberg\u2019s weekly food supply summary here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Many of the above links require subscriptions. Please support quality journalism.<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Commodity Conversations<\/a> \u00ae 2022<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The UN FAO world food price index fell for the fifth month in a row in August, averaging 138.0 points versus a revised 140.7 in July. The index has fallen from 159.7 points in March but is still 7.9 per cent higher than a year earlier. As a hopeful sign, fertilizer prices are easing (a … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Media Monitor”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7851","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news-summary"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9fIT3-22D","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7851","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7851"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7851\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7853,"href":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7851\/revisions\/7853"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7851"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7851"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/commodityconversations.com\/wordpress2\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7851"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}