Beef exports from Paraguay, which is part of the South American Mercosur trade bloc, fell by 4% in 2018 to just over 327,000t. Russia was the largest buyer of Paraguayan beef in 2018, importing more than 125,000t last year.

Chile imported almost 72,000t of beef from Paraguay.

Chinese pork production for 2018 stood at 54m tonnes

Chinese pork production fell slightly in 2018 due to ongoing issues with African Swine Fever.

Chinese pork production for 2018 stood at 54m tonnes, which was down 1% on the previous year. The size of the Chinese pig herd fell 3% in 2018 to 428m head.

Stratégie Grains, a French grain market consultancy group, has revised downwards its forecast for wheat production in Europe for 2019 to 146.4m tonnes.

However, if realised, this would still be a 15% increase on the 127m tonne wheat harvest in Europe for 2018.

Almost 37m calves were born in the US in 2018, which is up 2% on 2017 numbers and the highest number of calves born in a single year in the US since 2007.

The strong growth in calf numbers in the US is fuelling year-on-year growth in US beef production thanks to strong export demand.