The renewal of a major free trade pact is the defining topic at the ongoing 20th African Growth and Opportunity Act (AGOA) forum in South Africa. Signed during Bill Clinton’s presidency and terminating in 2025, the free trade pact gives some AGOA members tariff-free American market access. Hence, key beneficiaries will be seeking to renew the deal for 10...
In anticipation of a wheat drought around the world, China has bought bulk wheat from Oceania, Europe and North America. This has happened after rain damaged around 25 million tonnes or 20% of the Far-east country’s yearly wheat production. An earlier report had painted a bleak picture on the Chinese wheat fields when heavy rainfall decimated its 2023 crop. ...
Seaweed production in the Philippines clocked 365,775 tonnes between April and June 2023, earning a 33.8% portion in the fisheries sector. On the flip side, the Department of Agriculture (DA) revealed plans on October 26 of refining seaweed to make cheap alternative animal feed. DA’s undersecretary for Livestock Deogracias, Victor Savellano hinted at full plans for the“conversion...
In Ashkelon, a southern Israel farming center bordering the volatile Gaza demarcation, the potato planting season is just starting. The region is the food basket of Israel, accounting for a third of all vegetable production in the Middle-East country. Potatoes from the region represent 40% of all national consumption. In 2021, Israeli potato production hit 509,000 metric...
Till end 2023, the minimum price for India’s onion exports will stop at $800/ton, the government warned October 28, to bolster home supplies. From October 31 to December 31, 2023 all freight-on-board (FOB) onion shipments will have to adhere to the new regulation. Delhi cites the insufficient harvest from the rabi crop (winter season) as inadequate...
Two new apple hybrids by Maryland researchers may turn around the falling production of the fruit by the year 2026. This is even as Washington state awaits a six-year record-breaking 2023 apple harvest. These crosses will help recoup the glut of American apples, whose 2022 harvest was the smallest in 10 years. The two inventions include a yellow...
Leading fishmonger of Atlantic Halibut, NOHAL, more popular as Nordic Halibut reports that Quarter 3’s halibut prices hiked by 2% over the 2022 equivalent. The Norwegian firm said that its sales clocked to Norwegian Krone (NOK) 147 ($13.15) a kilogram in the quarter ending September 30. Additionally, there has been a year-on-year 14% price surge in 2023 whose...
U.S. President Joe Biden will kick off 14-day rural farm tours focusing on water, meat and market price issues. The President will initiate his farm calls in Minnesota. Though unconnected with the tour, the state recently produced the first Democratic Presidential challenger to Biden for the 2024 poll. Senator Dean Phillips of Minnesota announced last week that he’d...
Food and non-alcoholic beverage inflation in Australia rose by the weakest margin since September 2022 at 0.6% in quarter 3, 2023. Data by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) on October 25, 2023 groups food and non-alcoholic beverages among 6 other sectors that eschewed a general inflation rise of above 1.2% between July 1 and September 30, 2023. The...
650 bean varieties, up from the official 450 new cultivars by a research body have come to redefine African legume farming. The Pan-Africa Bean Research Alliance (PABRA) says that its cultivars have reached 32 African nations. This comes at a critical time when cheap protein sources have become mandatory in Africa amid degrading soils. A 2016 research states that...