Trucker strike raise concerns
Truckers in Argentina are in the midst of a strike protesting higher freight rates, slowing grain transport and cutting into stocks, says Andres Alcarez, spokesman for the export company chamber CIARA-CEC. Alcarez said that stored grains from plants or ports to embark or process are nearly depleted, detailing that most companies have just one or two days of grain supplies left. The Rosario port complex saw a 56 percent drop in truck arrivals.

To the north, truckers in Paraguay launched a nationwide strike Jan. 29 in response to the government’s decision to allow larger double trailer trucks from Brazil to haul grain to the Port of Concepcion in central Paraguay as they feel the larger trucks will be able to underbid them. The trucking stoppage comes as farmers are in the midst of soybean harvest. Paraguay is expected to produce a 10 MMT bean crop this season.

Brazilian corn crop estimate
A USDA agricultural attaché in Brazil estimated the country’s 2017-18 corn crop at 92 MMT, 3 MMT under USDA’s official estimate, with the posting saying reduced area for both the first and second corn crops and an expected return to normal yields should draw down crop size by 6 percent from year-ago.

Stopgap spending and co-op advantages
House Ways and Means Chairman Kevin Brady (R-Texas) says it’s “too soon to tell” if stopgap spending measures will address the co-op 199A advantages. The latest continuing resolution to fund the government through March 23 does not contain 199A tax-related language. But staffers and others are working on language that would include changes to a new deduction in the tax code that gives farmers incentives to sell their crops and products to cooperatives rather than other types of companies. Brady said, “It’s really important that co-ops and the private sector stay at the table to work out the issue sooner rather than later.”

Impact of China’s sorghum probe
The U.S. exported about 4.8 million tons of sorghum, worth about $1 billion, to China in 2017, according to Chinese customs data. China’s anti-dumping/anti-subsidy probe into U.S. sorghum exports could curb its imports by 1.5 million to 2 million tons in 2018, Zhang Dalong, an analyst at COFCO Futures Co., told Bloomberg. Besides supporting domestic corn prices, the probe may benefit barley imports from Ukraine and Canada due to a smaller Australian crop, Zhang said. The fear remains that if trade frictions escalate, tariffs could spread to more economically significant sectors like soybeans.

Canada’s Prime Minister on NAFTA
“Canada is willing to walk away from NAFTA if the U.S. proposes a bad deal. We will not be pushed around,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said at a town hall event in Nanaimo, British Columbia. “Canceling it would be extremely harmful and disruptive to people in the U.S.... We are going to keep negotiating in good faith, [but] we are not going to take any old deal.”

Global food prices hold steady
Global food prices held steady between December and January, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations’ food price index. It averaged 169.5 points during January, which is almost 3 percent under year-ago levels. While firmer prices were registered for cereals and vegetable oils in January, dairy and sugar values were generally weaker and meat quotations remained steady.

EPA finalizes WOTUS implementation date
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers finalized a rule to adjust the effective date of the waters of the U.S. (WOTUS) rule to two years after it is published in the Federal Register. Recent court decisions that lifted a stay on WOTUS accelerated efforts by EPA and the Corps to delay implementation of WOTUS until some time in 2020 via this rule. In the meantime, the agencies will continue their efforts to reconsider the 2015 rule and to develop a new definition of what constitutes waters of the U.S.

Distributors sue poultry processors
Sysco Corp. and U.S. Foods Holding Corp., top U.S. food distributors, have joined Winn-Dixie Stores and other poultry buyers in suing the nation’s biggest chicken processors—Tyson Foods Inc., Pilgrim’s Pride Corp., Sanderson Farms Inc. and Perdue Farms—for allegedly conspiring to fix prices. In recent years, customers and farmers have made similar accusations regarding pricing, production and compensation. The plaintiffs claim processors limited the supply of chickens by colluding to limit breeder birds. The lawsuit also alleges the data provider Agri Stats was involved in the conspiracy as it distributed information about chicken production that gave processors insight regarding rivals’ supplies.