The reopening of the Mexico border to allow cattle in after a late 2024 screwworm-related closure has not cooled uptick U.S.’ beef prices.  According to USA Today, end 2024’s prices increased more than ever since 2019, onto record January 2025 rates. Sirloin steak cuts ramped up $3 to the pound in five years, to settle at a January 2025 rate of $11.97...

After continuous decline due to good supply and low quotations, world sugar prices are now being hampered by cheap crude oil. The West Texas Intermediate (WTI) crude oil on March 5, 2025 slid to $67.66 a barrel, undercutting ethanol rates and in turn sugar prices.  Whenever crude oil gets cheap, ethanol from cane also loses price. Millers relax ethanol processing and switch to sugar...

Mass fish deaths on the Tasmania coastline in south Australia have made consumers wary of this beloved source of especially Aussie salmon.  The question is whether some of the fish dying from antibiotics and other beach waste are ending up onto plates. And in case they are, consumers face a tough decision as Australia imports very little salmon due to self-sufficiency. Tasmania provides...

A decrease in American lobster catches since 2021 due to migration to colder northern habitats has defined the industry’s perseverance.  The shrinking population is a blessing in disguise for Canada, where lobster are heading away from warming northeast U.S.’ waters. Such wholesale migrations have cost Maine alone some 25 million pounds in total catches in the past 4 years.  While...

China’s Finance Ministry has hit American goods with 10-15% tariffs, effective March 10, 2025 as a new trade war takes shape.  Cotton and chicken imports from the United States will face 15% duty while soybeans will court 10%. This comes as a response to President Trump’s recent doubling of tariffs on goods from China to 20%, effective March 4, 2025. Trump...

East China’s Zhejiang tea harvest is back March 2025 as farmers around Qiandao Lake in Chun’an county pick their first buds. The lake side area is a conducive plantation crop haven for it enjoys a lush forestry belt, reports CGTN. Here, smallholder tea estates thrive undisturbed by other crops except vegetables, making its tea uniquely flavored. Zhejiang’s undulating landscapes produce China’s...

Governmental grants, expertise and a dynamic dietary culture are slowly but surely turning mushroom production in Zambia into an economic miracle.  IPP Media reports that the pioneering efforts of a middle-aged woman, Tomaida Ziwa, have paid off with a maturing market. The 55-year old Ziwa helped capture the imagination of Zambians on the palatability of some mushrooms. In her wake came...

India and Pakistan are each rating their spring wheat forecasts downward on oncoming dry weather patterns on the subcontinent. A Reuters report of February 27, 2025 quoted the India Metrological Department (IMD) stating that March will be “unusually hot.” IMD will release its monthly temperature schedule February 28 but notes that by mid-March certain states can expect above 40ºC. Because...

A sharp Malay coconut shortage fanning unruly prices has prompted imports of over 66,000 of coconuts-in-shell. It all began in May 2024 when Perak on the western coast and the northern peninsula reported coconut yield drops by 80 to 90%. Coconut-reliant recent holidays like the Lunar New Year and Thaipusam have further stoked shortage, spiked prices and upped imports.  Price Kill Prices...

A lag in the ongoing 2024-25 harvest won’t deter Brazil’s soybean crop from tipping the annual production scale.  According to consultancy Pátricia Agronegócios courtesy Grain Central, 27.2% of the reaping was over February 14, 2025, a 10.5% weekly gain but a 3.4% yearly drop.  Though harvesting amid sporadic rain is a throwback to the April 2024 flooded harvest, it is not hampering progress. This is despite the...