Japan – beef herd increase drives exports

Since 2014, the US beef herd has increased 7m head close to 103m head of cattle. This herd expansion has driven a strong increase in US beef exports, with shipments to Japan up 31% to 230,000t, while exports to South Korea are up nearly 40% to 176,000t.

EU – wheat production forecast stays on the low side

The European Commission has slightly raised its forecast by 800,000t to just under 140m tonnes for soft wheat production in the EU 28 this harvest. The upgraded forecast is driven by improved ideas around the health of the French wheat crop, despite a summer heatwave.

UK – strong meat exports in first half of 2017

Beef, lamb and pork exports from the UK increased close to 20% in the first half of 2017 to £500m. Driven by the weaker sterling, beef exports to countries outside Europe were up 45% to 8,000t, while pork exports increased 4% to 41,000t.

Argentina – wheat production down due to lower acreage

Argentinian wheat production for the 2017/18 season is forecast at just under 17m tonnes, which is almost 1m tonnes lower than last year. The decline is due to a 300,000ha decline in the area of land planted in wheat to 5.2m ha.