US beef exports for October stood at just under 118,000t, which is 6% higher than the same month last year. For the 10 months to the end of October, the US has shipped a total of 1.13m tonnes of beef to world markets, which is up almost 10% on last year.

The Chinese government has said it will triple ethanol production capacity by 2020. The main driver behind this new target is the country’s vast stocks of maize (corn), estimated at a whopping 200m tonnes, or two thirds of all global stocks of maize.

Brazilian beef exports for November stood at 158,000t, with China and Hong Kong by far the largest destinations, taking a combined 70,000t. For the 11 months to the end of November, Brazil has exported more than 1.52m tonnes of beef to world markets, which is 13% ahead of last year.

Dutch milk production for November stood at just over 1bn litres, which is a 7% decline compared with the same month last year. With Dutch dairy farmers forced to cull cow numbers due to phosphate quotas, Dutch milk production for 2018 is set to be down 3% at just over 13bn litres.