Hamburg | Reuters – Farmers in Germany need special aid of around 1 billion euros ($1.17 billion) because of damage to harvests caused by drought and heatwave, the head of German farming association DBV said on Monday. The aid should be paid to farmers who have lost 30 percent and more of their harvests, DBV
German farmers seek 1 billion euros in drought aid
EU farming chief wants rapid Brexit talks, plans new dairy aid
Hannover, Germany | Reuters — Europe’s agriculture industry, already grappling with a dairy crisis, wants rapid talks about Britain’s exit from the European Union to minimise disruption, EU farming commissioner Phil Hogan said on Thursday. “Farmers know better than anyone that you need stability and certainty to plan for the future,” Hogan said in a
Russia now expected to leave grain tax scheme intact
Moscow | Reuters — Russia, one of the world’s largest wheat exporters, is not expected to change its current regime of taxes on grain exports, sources said on Friday, following proposals to change them. Concerns over the possibility of tougher limits on Russia’s foreign sales of wheat sent global prices to a one-month high earlier
U.S. grains: Soybeans slide as concern about Chinese growth persists
Reuters — U.S. soybean prices dropped on Wednesday on concern that interest rate cuts in China may not be enough to stimulate growth in the key importer. Corn slipped on technical selling, and Chicago wheat lost ground on concerns about export competition as the dollar rose, traders said. Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) November soybeans
Marubeni to close Australian grain business
Sydney/Hamburg | Reuters — Japan’s Marubeni Corp. is to close its Australian grain trading business after a review of its global operations. The move “is not in any way reflective of the performance of Marubeni Australia’s grain trading business division, which has been trading profitably for the past three years,” Makoto Kajitani, chairman and managing
Russia’s new grain export duty sows confusion
Moscow / Reuters — Russia stiffened its bid to curb grain exports on Monday with plans for a duty on shipments, to defend domestic bread supply against a crumbling rouble. Russia, one of the world’s top wheat exporters to North Africa and the Middle East, has been exporting record volumes of grain this year as
Syria tender for food calls for payment from Iran
Syria tendered to import food on Friday using a credit line from Iran’s export bank, in what could be a test of last month’s landmark deal to ease Western financial sanctions on Tehran. Sanctions also imposed on Syrian President Bashar al-Assad’s government do not cover food but those on banking, asset freezes and the country’s
Food suppliers look to win Iran contracts after nuclear deal
After years of difficulty caused by economic sanctions, suppliers are hoping a nuclear deal will make it easier to win lucrative contracts to sell wheat, sugar and other food to Iran. Iran was never barred from buying food, but EU and U.S. financial measures have made trade more difficult for the past two years by
Iran seeks wheat in new import spree
After months out of international grain markets and payment hurdles, Iran is now seeking at least 300,000 tonnes of milling wheat to help satisfy major import needs due to a poor domestic harvest, traders said Monday. Iran has to import 7.5 million tonnes of wheat this year, President Hassan Rouhani said in September, in what
Wheat starts to reach Syria as frozen funds unlocked
Deliveries of wheat are starting to reach Syria’s ports as its bank accounts abroad are gradually being freed from sanctions, with grain traders detecting a greater willingness from European governments to allow deals to go ahead on humanitarian grounds. As civil war grinds on, Syria is facing its worst wheat harvest in three decades. President