According to Reuters, Chinese corn buyers are cancelling
orders from the US and are switching to Ukraine as Beijing tightens
controls on processing GM varieties.
It
was unclear how many shipments had been affected, but one source said up to
four cargoes totalling 210KMT and worth about $40 million had been cancelled last month.
The World Bank announced it is rolling out crop receipts
across Ukraine to expand access to finance for small scale farmers.
Crop receipts are a pre-harvest financial
instrument which allows farmers to use future harvests as collateral allowing
them to purchase seeds, fertiliser and chemicals.
The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) have also agreed to provide financial assistance in Ukraine, this time for the construction
of the first stage of a 72MW solar plant on the site of a former chemical plant
in Lviv, Ukraine.
I’m sure solar power
makes sense in Ukraine but if it was me, I’d fund the development of biomass
production around each major conurbation which could then provide power and central
heating.
Russia has presented a new doctrine on food security to the
Public Council at the Ministry of Agriculture with the Chair of Council saying,
"This is a strategic document that will determine the development of
agriculture for the next 10 years, which will make it possible to take
agriculture to a new level."
The Director who presented the doctrine said it includes
measures to stimulate development of exports, improve quality of food, increase
volume of grain processing, formation of production clusters, development of
agricultural cooperation and a network of wholesale distribution.
It sounds like it could be significant, and we should all endeavour
to get a copy, translate it and read it.
One point of interest I did spot was an apparent U turn to
previous announcements that Russia wanted to extend import substitution policy to
include seeds when the Director of Department of Plant Production spoke about
measures to improve the regulatory framework and procedure for importing seeds
into Russia.
New Zealand’s Fonterra cooperative is to expand its business
in Russia by acquiring a 49% stake in a St Petersburg-based joint venture with
Foodline.
The investment is not without
controversy as it appears to indicate a change in trade policy by New Zealand after
previously standing with the EU, US and others who had imposed sanctions on
Russia in response to the annexation of Crimea and conflict in Ukraine.
Remote sensing of Russian and Ukraine snow conditions showed
thawing across major winter wheat growing regions last week, it’s unlikely to
have much impact on yield prospects at this stage as temperatures are
relatively mild but we will know more in March when we kick off our first Crop
Tour of the 2018 season.
Finally, on a sad and sobering note, there are no reported
survivors from the Russian passenger plane, believed to be carrying 71 people,
that crashed Sunday afternoon shortly after taking off from Moscow.