News

WASHINGTON, DC, US — Flour production in January-March 2021 totaled 103.634 million cwts, down 4.543 million cwts, or 4.2%, from a revised 108.177 million in the first quarter of 2020, according to data issued May 1 by the National Agricultural Statistics Service of the United States Department of Agriculture.

Flour production was down 3.353 million cwts, or 3.1%, from 106.987 million in October-December 2020.

The drop of 4.5 million cwts was the largest year-to-year drop in flour production in more than 18 ...

ROME, ITALY — A coalition of multilateral development banks and development partners including the Africa Development Bank and the UN International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD) have pledged more than $17 billion to fight rising hunger and improve food security in Africa.

The announcement was made April 30 during “Feeding Africa: leadership to scale up successful innovations,” a high-level forum hosted by the Africa Development Bank and IFAD in partnership with the Forum for Agricultural Research in Africa (FARA) and the ...

RIYADH, SAUDI ARABIA — Having recently sold its flour mills to private firms, the Saudi Arabian government is now preparing to sell some of its grain silos as part of its plans to boost the private sector’s contribution to its economy, Bloomberg reported on May 3.

It said state-owned Saudi Grain Organization (SAGO) plans to begin selling grain storage facilities this year and will seek bids from foreign and local firms.

In the past year, SAGO sold its flour mills to a ...

CANBERRA, AUSTRALIA — Australia’s grain production is expected to reflect average output in the 2021-22 marketing year after a strong drought-recovery in the previous year, according to a Global Agricultural Information Network (GAIN) report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

Despite favorable conditions around the time of winter planting, the USDA anticipates Australia’s production to be down from the 2020-21 marketing year’s record-breaking wheat crop and barley crop that was the second largest on record.

Australia is projected to produce 27 ...

OMAHA, NEBRASKA, US — Union Pacific, a US transportation company, has begun to build a grain transload facility within its Global IV intermodal terminal in Joliet, Illinois, US.

The facility is expected to be completed by the fourth quarter of 2021 and once operational the terminal will have the capacity to process 50,000 intermodal marine containers per year.

The Union Pacific Global IV Transload facility will be managed by JCT, which is a 50/50 joint venture between Consolidated Grain and Barge Co. ...

LONDON, ENGLAND — Global grain stocks are forecast to finish the 2020-21 marketing year at a five-year low at 609 million tonnes, according to the International Grains Council’s (IGC) most recent Grain Market Report released on April 29.

The IGC said an increase in total grains (wheat and coarse grains) production of 36 million tonnes from the previous marketing year will be offset by a 44-million-tonne rise in consumption, leaving stocks 8 million tonnes lower than a year ago.

“The drop in ...

KANSAS CITY, MISSOURI, US — Grain industry professionals last week said movement on US railroads was mostly on track except for the lingering issue of late car placements at origins. Those complaints had been steady for most of the year and were more common in western US regions than in the east.

Some Class 1 railroad customers desperate to ship contracted grain via rail cars ordered earlier were writing to railroad leadership seeking a reprieve from late-arriving equipment that in some ...

OTTAWA, ONTARIO, CANADA — Canadian farmers intend to plant more canola but less wheat and oats for harvest in 2021 than expected by the trade, according to data released April 27 by Statistics Canada in its Principal Field Crop Areas report.

Statistics Canada, based on a survey of producers conducted during March, indicated Canadian farmers intend to plant 23.26 million acres to wheat for harvest this year, an area that would be 7% smaller than the 24.98 million acres seeded in ...

DUBLIN, IRELAND — The Republic of Ireland, although a major food and drink exporter, relies on the United Kingdom for much of its supply of flour. However, the UK’s exit from the European Union means flour has suddenly become much more expensive, leading Irish politicians to ask whether the country should be doing more of its own grain processing.

Flour produced in the UK from UK wheat can be imported into Ireland under the deal agreed by London with the EU, ...

LONDON, ENGLAND — After a 40-year low in wheat production, the United Kingdom (UK) is projected to sharply increase its wheat output in the 2021-22 marketing year to 14.75 million tonnes, up 5 million tonnes from the previous year, according to an April 21 Global Agricultural Information Network report from the US Department of Agriculture (USDA).

“The total wheat area is forecast to increase nearly 400,000 hectares in 2021-22,” the USDA said. “Fall planting conditions were much improved on those for ...