Mexico’s beef industry exported just over 210,000t of beef in 2017, which represents a 9% increase year on year. Over 90% of Mexican beef exports went to the US market last year, with Japan and Hong Kong taking small amounts.

New Zealand lamb exports for the first quarter (October to December) of its 2017/18 trading year stood at just under 65,000t, which is a 21% increase year on year. Demand was driven by China, which accounted for over a third of New Zealand lamb exports.

The USDA has estimated winter wheat sowings in the US for the 2018 season at 32.6m acres, which is a drop of almost 90,000 acres compared with last year. The USDA said this is the lowest planted acreage in the US for winter in 109 years.

Wheat production in Morocco is forecast between 3m tonnes and 5.5m tonnes for the 2018 harvest season. This is a sharp drop on the 6.3m tonne crop produced in 2017. As a result, Morocco’s demand for wheat imports for 2018 is likely to rise from the 9m tonnes imported in 2017.