Beef exports from Paraguay for the month of December are estimated at 23,000t. This brings Paraguay’s full-year beef exports for 2017 to 285,000t, which is 3% ahead of the previous year. Average prices for Paraguayan beef increased 8% in 2017 to $4,300/t.

Chinese infant formula imports for 2017 increased by more than a third (+35%) to break 300,000t, which is a new record. The top exporters of infant formula to China in 2017 were the Netherlands, New Zealand, France and Ireland.

2017 marks the third year out of the last four that US grain farmers achieved a new record yield for corn. Average corn yields in 2017 increased to a record 177bu/acre (4.5t/acre), with total US corn production estimated at 371m tonnes.

A lack of snow this winter means 2018 winter wheat crops in Russia could be severely exposed to extreme temperatures as low as -15°C that will come in late January and February. Russian farmers have sown over 17m hectares in winter crops.