Chinese soya bean imports for the 2018 calendar year stood at 88m tonnes, which was an 8% decline compared with the previous year.

China’s agriculture ministry also announced it expects Chinese soya bean consumption to fall 3% in 2019 to just under 103m tonnes.

A weaker than expected harvest has seen CONAB, the Brazilian ag research firm, lower its forecast for Brazil’s 2019 soya bean crop to 119m tonnes.

The group has forecast Brazil’s 2019 maize crop at 91m tonnes, compared with the 82m tonne maize harvest in 2018.

German milk production for November stood at 2.4bn litres, which was a 1.3% decline compared with the same month the previous year.

Cumulative German milk production for the first 11 months of 2018 (Jan to Nov) stands at 28.8bn litres, which is up 2% on 2017 production.

The Canadian agriculture ministry has estimated the country’s rapeseed harvest at 20.3m tonnes, which is down from the 21.3m tonnes harvested in 2017.

The country’s maize (corn) harvest has been forecast at 13.9m tonnes for 2018, despite harvest delays due to snow.