Food Transportation
Importers shift from bulk to containers
LONDON, U.K. (Reuters) — Food importers in Asia are switching from dry bulk cargo ships to container ships to import smaller amounts at rates that are often cheaper per tonne.
Agricultural commodities traditionally have been shipped on bulk carriers brimming with 60,000 to 70,000 tonnes of a single cargo such as wheat, corn or sugar.
But the market is changing as ships seek to fill empty containers after unloading consumer goods in western countries and offer competitive rates for commodities going back to Asia, the world’s manufacturing hub.
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At the same time, Asian import demand for animal feed grains is increasing.
“As Southeast Asia develops economically, you have demand for better quality, high protein diets, and ports don’t (necessarily) have the infrastructure for bulk vessel receiving,” said Brian Bickford, president of AgriLogistics, a U.S. company specializing in grain shipping.
While buying in bulk can be economical, it also can put pressure on an importer’s working capital. A standard 20-foot shipping container holds only about 20 tonnes of grain.
U.S. containerized grain exports to Asia have more than doubled since 2006 to reach 470,832 20-foot containers in the first 10 months of 2013, up 10 percent from the year before, according U.S. Department of Agriculture data.
Analysts estimate that 12 to 15 percent of Australia’s grain exports are now shipped in containers to Asia.
USDA reports resume
Semi-annual cattle data among those reinstated
CHICAGO, Ill. (Reuters) — Several reports that had been shelved last year due to U.S. budget constraints, including the mid-year cattle survey, are being brought back due to recent funding measures, according to a statement by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Following passage of its budget, USDA’s National Agriculture Statistics Service will reinstate the agricultural statistics previously suspended due to sequestration, USDA said.
NASS plans to implement the reinstatements for its 2014 fiscal year appropriation and is expected to announce when the data will be published.
The reports include:
- July cattle report
- All catfish and trout reports
- Potato stocks reports
- Non-citrus fruit, nut and vegetable forecasts, estimatesand monthly prices
- June rice stocks report
- All hops and hops stocks estimates
- Mink report
GMO acceptance campaign
GM supporters use social media
(Reuters) — A group of biotech companies battling to increase U.S. consumer acceptance of genetically modified foods is increasing paid advertising efforts as it expands a social media marketing website it started last year.
The paid ads will seek to drive traffic to the www.GMOAnswers.com website started last year by industry players that want to allay concerns about GM foods, according to an executive who helps to run the site.
The web campaign is part of a broad strategy by the biotech industry to try to beat back growing calls for GMO food labelling and for tighter regulation of the biotech seed industry in the United States.
A consortium backed in part by Monsanto, DuPont, and Dow AgroSciences, a unit of Dow Chemical, launched the website in July.
So far, the site has logged more than 650 questions from an array of interested parties, chiefly focused on the impact of GMOs on health and nutrition.
Corn acres increase six percent
KIEV, Ukraine, (Reuters) — Ukraine’s farmers are likely to increase the area sown for corn by at least six percent to 12.9 million acres this year, agriculture minister Mykola Prysyazhnyuk said.
The increase could provide Ukraine with up to two million tonnes of additional corn, according to analysts’ calculations.
The ministry data showed farms sowed a total of 19.2 million acres for the 2014 winter grain harvest, including 15.6 million acres of winter wheat.
Ukraine, which harvested a record grain crop of 63 million tonnes in 2013, sowed 19.5 million acres of winter crops, including 16 million acres of winter wheat.
Ukraine harvested 22.2 million tonnes of wheat and 30.9 million tonnes of corn in 2013.
Analysts have said the harvest could reach 61 million tonnes of grain in 2014, including 21.6 million tonnes of wheat and 27.5 million tonnes of corn.
German poultry
Producers end GMO avoidance
HAMBURG, Germany (Reuters) — German poultry producers have given up a promise to consumers to avoid feeding birds with soybeans containing genetically modified organisms because of lower supplies of non-GMO types, said poultry producers association BBH.
Brazil, the main bulk supplier of GMO free soybeans, was likely to cut its supplies of GMO free soybeans by 50 percent this year partly because of cross-pollination with conventional beans, the association said.
“Feeding for chicken and turkey production in Germany without use of genetic technology can no longer be undertaken,” the association said. “Specialist feed factories for production of poultry feed requires a seamless supply chain with impeccable GMO-free soybeans, but supplies can no longer be guaranteed in the required volumes.”
