US farmers are set to plant just over 88m acres in corn for the 2018 season, a drop of more than 2.1m acres compared with last season. Soya bean plantings for 2018 are forecast at less than 89m acres, which is down 1m acres on last year.

Brazil exported more than 121,000t of fresh beef to international markets in March, according to data from the country’s export office. This represents a 24% increase compared with last year. Year-to-date beef exports are close to 320,000t, which is 20% ahead of last season.

Pork exports from the EU28 fell 2% in January to 183,000t, according to figures from Eurostat. Export prices are also 3% lower than this time last year, reflecting the weak price of pork across Europe. Asia remains the EU’s largest export market for pork.

New Zealand dairy giant Fonterra said it collected 135m kilogrammes of milk solids from its farmer suppliers in February, which was down 4% year on year. The drop in milk supply was a result of the recent drought which hit the country and hampered grass growing conditions.