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A full reopening of the Strait of Hormuz would likely trigger a rush of grain imports to Persian Gulf nations that have had to rely on more arduous routes, Bloomberg reported.
The report noted that the Gulf is among the world’s most import-dependent food markets, relying on overseas supplies for around 90% of its food consumption. Iran ranks among the world’s largest soybean and soybean meal buyers is also a major importer of Brazilian corn. Many of the region’s main grain import hubs, including Jebel Ali in the United Arab Emirates, Dammam in Saudi Arabia and Iran’s Bandar Imam Khomeini, lie behind the strait. In May, overall grain imports to the region fell to 942,000 tons, down more than 50% from a year ago, the report said, citing Kpler data, highlighting the extent to which alternative routes have failed to replace pre-war flows through the Strait of Hormuz.
U.S.-Mexico trade talks under way: U.S. and Mexican negotiators were set to meet in Washington on Tuesday for a second round of talks focused on agriculture and energy in an effort to revamp the North American trade agreement, after President Donald Trump last week cast doubt on the future of the pact. Reuters reported that agricultural groups are urging Trump to extend the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement on trade for another 16 years with duty-free farm products, strengthened provisions for genetically modified corn and ethanol access in Mexico and improved access to Canada’s largely closed dairy market.
The closed-door talks are set to take place Tuesday and Wednesday following negotiations in Mexico City last month that revealed a U.S. demand to require 50% of North American motor vehicle content come specifically from the U.S., pushing up the regional threshold to 82%, the report said. Canada, a top destination for U.S. ethanol exports, has so far been shut out of formal negotiations, although its trade minister, Dominic LeBlanc, continues to meet with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer, the report said.
- “I’m not looking to renew it,” Trump said of USMCA last week. “We don’t need anything that Canada has. We don’t need anything that Mexico has, but they need everything that we have. They have to treat us better.”
Will economics derail Brazil crop expansion in 2027? Despite facing low commodity prices, high fertilizer costs, restrictive credit, and a strengthening El Niño pattern, Brazil’s corn and soybean sectors are projected to continue their long-term growth trajectories into the 2027 crop year, according to a farmdoc daily analysis by economists Joe Janzen of the University of Illinois and Joana Colussi of Purdue University. While some market analysts have anticipated a defensive pullback due to a war-driven fertilizer crunch and tight farmer margins, initial USDA forecasts project a 6.1% increase in soybean production and a 6.2% rise in corn output over last year—both potentially tracking toward fresh historical records.
Janzen and Colussi note that a deliberate, farmer-driven retreat in acreage is highly unlikely. Historically, Brazil’s harvested area has steadily expanded regardless of financial downturns, including the major mid-2010s commodity price collapse. Instead, the economists emphasize that year-to-year supply fluctuations in Brazil are almost entirely weather-driven rather than economic. With El Niño-related risks threatening localized droughts in the critical Center-West and northern regions, a major global supply shock remains dependent on adverse weather rather than a intentional reduction in input use or plantings.
EU lawmakers OK U.S. trade pact: The European Parliament approved a deal agreed last year that would remove European Union import duties and ease access for a variety of U.S. goods, Deutsche Welle reported. Approval of the deal, which calls for tariffs of 15% on imports of EU goods to the U.S., could avert another round of tariff conflict between Brussels and Washington.
- “Under considerable pressure, we secured important guardrails to keep European interests on track,” said Bernd Lange, chair of the European Parliament’s trade committee. “One thing is certain: we will stay on it and keep a close watch on the implementation.”
Iowa regains pseudorabies-free status: Iowa Agriculture Secretary of Agriculture Mike Naig said Monday that the Iowa Department of Agriculture and Land Stewardship (IDALS) has successfully completed the pseudorabies response protocol outlined in the United States Department of Agriculture Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service’s (USDA APHIS) program standards. The second round of testing did not reveal any additional cases, confirming the pseudorabies virus did not spread.
“This situation is a great reminder that we must always be prepared to respond to animal health threats and can never get complacent in our efforts to keep these diseases out of our herds,” he said.
Less than 10 swine production facilities remained under quarantine following the detection of pseudorabies virus in a small commercial swine facility on April 30. The affected swine farms have completed their second round of pseudorabies testing; all tests were negative and the quarantined farms have been released, the Iowa Agriculture Department said, allowing producers that had been within the control area to resume routine animal movements.