• Bloomberg reported that China has revoked the licence of a Glencore PLC unit to ship canola from Canada, citing pest infestation. On 1 March, the same fate fell upon Richardson International, which is Canada’s largest agribusiness company. A company official from Richardson said that the move may be linked to the escalating row over the arrest of a Huawei International executive in Vancouver. However, the Canola Council of Canada said it isn’t sure whether the licence was scrapped because of political tensions. China represents a C$3.6bil market for the canola Canadian market.

• According to Bloomberg also, PT Pertamina has signed agreements with PT Perkebunan Nusantara II and PT Rajawali Nusantara Indonesia for the supply of palm oil and ethanol for renewable energy projects. The two companies will supply crude palm oil and RBD palm oil to Pertamina to be processed into biofuels. A unit of PT Rajawali will also supply molasses to Pertamina to be processed into fuel grade bioethanol with a capacity of 30,000 KL (26,132 tonnes) per year.

• Reuters reported that Argentine farmers have been holding back on soybean deals as they are waiting for the trade war between the US and China to abate. Government data showed that just 16.2% of this season’s crops have been sold by early March compared with 30.5% at the same time last year. The farmers’ reluctance to sell has also hit the large grain merchants recently such as Bunge, which blamed limited farmer selling in Brazil for earnings misses last year.

• Forbes said that rising prices for potash has sparked a rush in the mining industry as large and small companies look for ways to cash in. In the past 12 months, the price of potash has risen by almost 25% to US$350/tonne. Miners expect potash price to continue rising, potentially going back to the US$525/tonne level reached in 2010. BHP is mulling the best time to start production on its US$10bil Jensen potash project in Canada while Britain is working towards starting a US$3bil potash mine in North Yorkshire.

• www.agriculture.com reported that corn, which was hit by floods in the US recently, must be destroyed and not sold. The damage from the floods affected states such as Iowa, Missouri and Nebraska. In Nebraska, the state governor has estimated losses to the agricultural sector to be US$1bil. The website quoted a report by industry experts saying that according to current Food and Drug Administration policy, grains inundated by uncontrolled river or stream water are considered adulterated and must be destroyed. River-based floodwaters can result in many hazards and rapid spoilage.

• In Finland, Uutiset reported that the country’s taxes on sweets and sugary drinks have had different effects. The Finns were happy to switch to diet soda but were reluctant to give up their candies. The 2014 tax on sugary drinks was justified by the government on health grounds and it seemed to have been successful in reducing consumption by 4.2% compared with a control group of products unaffected by the tax. The study showed a spike in consumption of healthier options and a decline in sales of sugary ones.

Source: AmInvest Research - 1 Apr 2019