It is price respite for gourmets in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after India allowed back onion imports in March 2024. Limited onion shipments totaling 10,000 tonnes from India are currently taking place through the National Cooperative Exports Ltd (NCEL). For now, Emirati importers have been taking advantage of low at-origin prices and these could in turn favor customers back home. UAE’s...

Eight months after Russia exited the Black Sea Grain Initiative (BSGI),  Black sea agricultural marine cargo volumes have matched pre-2022 levels. Over 1,300 ships conveyed around 25 million tonnes of agricultural goods between August 2023 and April 2024.   Ukraine’s ambassador to the UN, Serhiy Kyslytsia, stated on April 30, 2024 that this cargo estimate exceeds that of BSGI’s lifetime. The United...

A University of California (UC) study has found that U.S.’ reservoirs such as artificial dams hold 7.6 billion pounds of fish.  In other words, these underutilized dams have nearly as much fish as the total yearly commercial landings in the United States. In 2020, for instance, fishermen caught 8.4 billion pounds of fish in commercial fisheries such as the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. According to...

After a 90-day period of soaring prices, wheat futures finally dropped at Euronext trading platform in Paris on April 29, 2024.  Among contracts, wheat set for September delivery fell most, by 2.2%, to settle at EUR 230 ($246.12) per tonne. This was a major retreat given prices had peaked at a three-month high of EUR 235.75 ($252.23) on April 26. The major drive for...

The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has been testing for avian flu in beef and dairy products since the finding of the pathogen in the lung tissue of a dairy cow.  The meat from the infected cow, meanwhile, did not enter the market.  It is currently indeterminate whether the virus affects only dairy cows or even beef breeds. Hence, USDA has been...

Farmers in the vanilla belt of Wewak have benefited from an international initiative to digitize vanilla farming in Papua New Guinea (PNG). The EU-STREIT PNG initiative began as a vanilla quality sensitization program before it finally oriented farmers to digital marketing. The program is a sponsorship of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO) and the International Telecommunication Union (ITU). By...

Algeria’s Ministry of Agriculture on April 24, 2024 signed a deal with Qatar’s firm Baladna, to build the world’s largest dairy farm. According to the Ministry’s statement,  the project will establish a breeding farm for cow milk and meat production. Key products from the vast integrated infrastructure will be milk powder and red meat, among others.  The project will cover 170,000 hectares in...

The European Union (EU) parliament approved the new Packaging and Packaging Waste Regulation (PPWR) on April 24, 2024, promoting reusable packaging material. This breakthrough comes three years after information emerged that each EU inhabitant discards 188.7 kilograms of plastic waste annually.  After heated debates, 476 EU MEPs voted in favor of the regulation against 129 dissenters, with 24 abstainers. A month earlier in March...

A year after a warm 2022-23 winter and a lengthy freeze decimated peaches in Georgia, which is also known as “the Peach State,” farmers now predict a bountiful crop in 2024. Georgia’s peach farmers stake this hope on a currently normal spring without an unexpected ice freeze like in 2023. In 2023, late freezing conditions impacted the budding of numerous...

The average weights of U.S. beef cattle have improved but prices in April 2024 have increased by 5%, year-on-year. An April 17, 2024 report by the Economic Research Service (ERS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) shows a month-on-month gain of 1.09% in farm gate prices. The fed cattle price reached $185 per hundredweight ($45.4 kg) in April, a unit...