Recent rainfall in Russia has slowed planting work for winter grains. The slowdown means Russian winter plantings will be close to 17.5m hectares. Had weather held up, it was expected that plantings would have come close to 18m hectares, which would have been an all-time record.

South Africa’s corn (maize) harvest for this year is set to reach 12.5m tonnes, according to the International Grains Council. Despite a strong harvest, South African corn exports are forecast to drop 20% next year to 2m tonnes.

Australian beef exports for October stood at 86,300t, which is more than 10% below the country’s five-year average. The decline in exports is due to much-needed rainfall in Australia in early October, which saw farmers hold back cattle from slaughter.

UK imports of cheese and butter both fell for the month of August. UK butter imports were down almost 25% to less than 4,330t, while cheddar imports declined 10% below 9,400t. In contrast, the weak sterling boosted UK exports of butter (+20%) and cheddar (4%) for August.