Milk production by UK dairy farmers for the month of February stood at 1.2bn litres, which is 3% ahead of the same month last year. For January, UK milk production was also up 3% to 1.3bn litres. This means UK milk production for the opening two months of 2019 is 4% ahead of last year at 2.4bn litres.

Argentinian beef exports of chilled and frozen beef stood at just under 32,300t for February, which is almost 50% ahead of last year’s export volumes for the same month.

For the first two months of 2019, Argentinian beef exports stand at a cumulative 65,000t – up 45% year on year.

Australian beef exports for the month of March stood at just under 102,500t, which is 13% ahead of the volume exported in the same month last year.

Australian beef exports to the US were up 23% in March to 24,400t and up 14% to Korea to 14,820t.

US soya bean production for the 2019 season is forecast at just under 124m tonnes by the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

If realised, this season’s crop will be almost 4m tonnes ahead of 2018 production, despite a lower acreage planted in soya.