Trade
WASHINGTON, D.C. (Reuters) — The World Trade Organization has rejected Argentina’s bid to overturn a ruling in favour of the United States, European Union and Japan against the South American country’s licensing rules used to restrict imports.
The WTO’s appellate body recommended Argentina fix its trade rules after it upheld an earlier WTO panel report that Argentina’s import licensing requirement and other import restrictions breach international trade rules.
Faced with a struggling economy, Argentina’s government has limited imports in a bid to shield local industries and bolster its trade surplus. In 2012, the country imposed a system requiring prior approval of nearly every purchase from abroad, sparking the WTO case.
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Crop estimates show mixed results
Model-based estimates used by Statistics Canada showed the 2025/26 crop year has seen increases in canola, corn for grain, oats and lentils production while seeing dips in spring wheat, durum wheat, soybeans and barley in comparison to 2024/25.
The U.S. National Association of Manufacturers said Argentina should quickly scrap its “burdensome” import requirements, and the administration said it would continue to make sure trading partners played fair.
“Argentina’s protectionist measures impact a broad segment of U.S. exports, potentially affecting billions of dollars in U.S. exports each year that support high quality, middle-class American jobs,” U.S. trade representative Michael Froman said in a statement.
The European Commission said Argentina should stop requiring foreign companies to limit their imports, offset the value of imports with equivalent exports, invest in the country and keep their profits there or use a certain amount of Argentine content in their products.
A U.S. trade official said the ruling means Argentina would have a “number of months” to fix its laws and make sure any import licences were automatic and transparent.
Weather
SAO PAULO, Brazil (Reuters) — A long stretch of little to no rain since the beginning of the year in west-central Brazil is starting to worry soybean farmers, who fear productivity losses from the expected record crop.
Meteorologists say an atmospheric block is stopping cold air from advancing from the south, preventing widespread rain in the top producing region of the world’s second largest soybean grower.
“All areas are showing a hydric deficit; it’s only raining in micro-regions,” Marco Antonio dos Santos, Somar’s agro meteorologist, said of conditions in the west-central region.
Some areas in Goias state, which is responsible for 10 percent of the national crop, have not seen any rain since Christmas, said Cristiano Palavro, technical consultant from Senar Goias.
He said the rain that has occurred has been less than needed. Soybean plants can go up to 15 days without rain before productivity losses occur.
Somar said the blockage could break up by the end of the month, bringing needed rain. The soy crop is in the early stages of harvesting in some areas.
Rainfall in general has been better in the west-central grain belt than in the southeast coffee and cane areas, but southern Mato Grosso state is on track for below-average rain in January, Somar said.
Ninety-four millimetres have fallen there so far compared with the 256 mm average for the month.
Animal health
SEOUL, South Korea (Reuters) — Foot-and-mouth disease has spread to a cattle farm in South Korea for the first time in more than three years.
It’s a blow to authorities who are battling to contain an outbreak of the disease.
The outbreak was discovered around half a year ago on hog farms, intensifying fears about food safety in a nation already grappling with avian flu.
The agriculture ministry said Jan. 13 that the disease had been detected at a cattle farm in the city of Anseong, nearly 100 kilometres south of Seoul.
More than 26,000 hogs, or .3 percent of the country’s total hog population, have been slaughtered as defence against foot and mouth, according to ministry data.
All the cases have involved a type of the disease that animals are inoculated against in South Korea, the ministry said.
Worries over livestock disease have helped boost meat imports.
South Korea’s pork imports, mainly from the United States and Germany, rose 21 percent to 328,241 tonnes in the first 11 months of last year from the same period the previous year, customs data showed.
The country’s beef imports, mainly from Australia and the United States, also rose six percent to more than 260,000 tonnes between January and November last year from a year earlier, the data showed.
Crime
JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (Reuters) — Violent attacks on South Africa’s farmers, most of whom are white, are on the rise, and 67 farm murders occurred last year, according to recent data.
The issue of crime on the farm is an emotive one in South Africa, with white commercial farmers seeing much of the violence as racially motivated.
Police say farmers are often targeted because of their remote locations and the perception that they have valuables such as cash or guns.
Farming and land are sensitive issues in South Africa, where the white minority still holds 87 percent of commercial farmland, two decades after the end of apartheid.
AfriForum, which represents mostly white South Africans on issues such as affirmative action, and farming group TAU SA, said the number of verified farm attacks had risen to 277 in 2014 from 96 in 2011.
Farm murders, which are defined as a homicide against a farmer, family member or one of their employees during an attack by an outsider, had risen to 67 over the same period from 54 in 2011.
Ernst Roets, AfriForum’s deputy chief executive officer, said farm murders had been declining since hitting a peak of 115 in 2004 but have been rising since 2011.
