Evening Report: March 14, 2022
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Check our advice monitor on ProFarmer.com for updates to our marketing plan.
Fill out our acreage survey… Please fill out our spring acreage survey with your current planting intentions for this year. We’ll share our acreage estimates based on survey results ahead of USDA’s Prospective Plantings Report on March 31.
Russia/Ukraine update... Ukraine and Russia began another round of talks after negotiators said some form of agreement might be in sight, even as fierce Russian bombardments continued. Overall, nearly all of the Russian offensives remained stalled on Monday after making little progress over the weekend, according to a senior U.S. defense official. Ukraine reported more airstrikes on an airport in the west.
U.S. and Chinese officials conducted a “substantial discussion” of the Russian war against Ukraine in their first high-level, in-person talks since the invasion. Still, the White House announced no specific outcomes or agreements.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy will deliver a virtual address to the U.S. Congress on Wednesday.
Russia has not banned grain exports yet... According to Andrey Sizov, managing director of SovEcon, a Black Sea region consulting firm, Russia has not banned wheat, corn, barley and rye exports. He says firms are selling and shipping wheat from the Black Sea. The document suspended grain exports to neighboring ex-Soviet countries. Due to the collapse of the Russian ruble, he expects Russian consumers to demand government action to control high food prices. He says a possible export ban could be announced in the coming weeks or months.
Spain to relax corn import rules... Spain will temporarily lift corn import rules for Argentine and Brazilian supplies, according to its Agriculture Ministry. Spain has been pushing the EU to relax its import rules to import corn after Ukraine corn shipments were shut off due to the Russian invasion. On Friday, the European Commission authorized countries to lift some technical restrictions on herbicide residues. Spain’s government officials are meeting with importers to resolve any technical obstacles to importing corn.
Canada clears Brazil beef, pork imports... Brazilian Agriculture Minister Tereza Cristina Dias tweeted that Canada has cleared Brazilian beef and pork imports. She was in Canada to speak with potash suppliers.
Brazil’s safrinha corn crop mostly planted... Brazilian farmers in the center and southern areas had 94% of their safrinha corn crop planted through the end of last week, according to ag consultancy AgRural. The planting pace is 20 points ahead of last year. AgRural says 64% of Brazil’s soybeans are harvested, up from 46% a year ago. Mato Grosso is virtually done with soybean harvest. Goias and Mato Grosso do Sul are nearing completion.
Private firm expects 39% cut in Ukraine’s planted grain area... Only 4.7 million hectares of spring grain will likely be planted in Ukraine this year, down 39% from last year, according to Black Sea ag consultancy APK-Inform. The consultancy estimates the sunflower planted area will decline to the lowest in 13 years, 4.2 million to 4.4 million hectares. It expects the soybean planted area to decrease by 11% to 1.2 million hectares in 2022. APK-Inform predicts a more severe drop in rapeseed area planted as half is in active military regions. Last year, farmers planted 1.4 million hectares of rapeseed.
APK-Inform predicts only 5.5 million hectares of the 7.6 million hectares of planted winter wheat, rye and barley will be harvested due to active military operations.
Ukraine bans fertilizer exports... Ukraine has halted fertilizer exports to support domestic food production due to emergency conditions, declared the Minister of Agrarian Policy and Food Roman Leschenko. The export ban covers nitrogen, phosphorus, potash and compound fertilizers.
China starts releasing fertilizer from reserves... China has started to release more than 3 MMT of fertilizer from its state reserves to meet market demand, according to the National Development and Reform Committee. The government will monitor market demand to ensure stable fertilizer supply and prices. Since last fall, China has planned to release fertilizer supplies in batches to help tame prices.
U.S. ag trade surplus slows... USDA reports the ag sector had a trade surplus of $179.1 million for January. Ag exports totaled $15.9 billion against imports of $15.7 billion. Through the first four months of fiscal year 2022, U.S. agriculture is running a $7.9 billion surplus, with $68.5 billion of exports and $60.6 billion of imports. USDA forecasts a $10.5 billion ag trade surplus for FY 2022. The heaviest period for U.S. ag exports is through the first several months of the marketing year, while imports typically pick up during spring.
Avian flu found in egg-laying chickens in Wisconsin... USDA confirmed highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) in a commercial layer chicken flock in Jefferson County, Wisconsin. State officials quarantined the affected premises, and birds on the property will be depopulated to prevent the spread of the disease. Birds from the flock will not enter the food system. USDA will report these findings to the World Organization for Animal Health (OIE) and international trading partners.
Brazil restarts processing sugarcane into ethanol... A handful of sugarcane mills in Brazil’s center and southern region resumed processing sugarcane into ethanol due to higher biofuel prices, according to industry group Unica. Processors turned 159,000 metric tons into ethanol in the second half of February, down 76% from last year. It was the first sugarcane processing since late 2021.
