12 minute read
Hurricane Ida disrupts
IN BRIEF
INDIA: The government has reduced the import tax on soya and sunflower oils to 7.5% from 15% in a bid to contain surging edible oil prices, Reuters reported on 20 August.
The tax cut was introduced for six weeks and would last until 30 September but could be extended if prices remained high.
Following the move, soya oil and sunflower oil imports would be subject to an effective tax rate of 30.25%.
India fulfilled more than two-thirds of its edible oil demand through imports and had been struggling to contain a rally in local oil prices for the last few months, Reuters wrote. It had already cut the import tax on crude palm oil on 29 June.
Hurricane Ida disrupts US Gulf logistics and exports
Global agribusiness and food ingredient companies were assessing damage to facilities after Hurricane Ida disrupted grain and oilseed exports from the US Gulf Coast, which typically handles 60% of US exports, according to a World Grain report on 2 September.
Grain facilities in the region were without power and some were inundated with floodwaters after Ida made landfall on 29 August in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, just south of New Orleans.
US agribusiness firm Cargill said its terminals in Reserve and Westwego, Louisiana had both sustained damage.
Farm cooperative CHS Inc's Myrtle Grove terminal in Louisiana also sustained damage, with a two-to-four week estimate for power being restored, World Grain reported.
In preparation for Hurricane Ida’s arrival, Archer-Daniels Midland Company (ADM) had shut down four grain elevators and port operations, according to ADM spokesperson Jackie Anderson.
Daiana Endruweit, global media relations manager at Bunge, told AgriCensus that there had been no significant structural damage to the company’s facilities but that "they are not operating as there is no power".
Companies that had sustained damage and were facing a lengthy wait for restored power were looking at other export outlets, a commodities trader was quoted by World Grain as saying, with transport times to destinations and transportation costs expected to increase as a result.
The US Gulf Coast is a major fatty alcohol production and import site, as well as a petroleum centre.
More than 95% of the Gulf of Mexico’s oil production facilities had been shut down, with a significant impact on the US energy supply, according to an American News Times report. Six petroleum refineries in the New Orleans area – including PBF, Shell, Marathon and two Valero refineries had been affected.
Peels launches CBD oil made from orange peels
US cannabidiol (CBD) company Peels has launched a CBD oil made from orange peels, PR Newswire reported on 3 August.
Traditionally, CBD was extracted from the hemp plant but, on its website, Peels said it could reconstruct the same molecular structure from the terpenes naturally present in citrus peels to create a pure, bio-identical CBD molecule.
The company said its CBD oil had the same holistic effects as cannabis and hemp-derived CBD, but was
Peels company has used orange peels to create CBD oil
free of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) the psychoactive constituent of cannabis.
Peels uses a process called
Photo: Adobe Stock cyclic terpene assembly (CTA) to produce its CBD oil from orange peel, according to its website. The process combined terpenes from orange peel with olivetol, a naturally occurring organic compound, under heat and pressure.
After minimal further processing, the result was a crystalline CBD, the firm said.
Organic citrus flavour and organic medium-chain triglycerides from coconut oil were added to the company’s CBD oil to improve its taste and aroma.
Brazil loses water supply from climate change, deforestation
A new study has estimated that Brazil lost almost a fifth of its surface fresh water supply between 1991 and 2020 due to climate change and deforestation, AgriCensus reported on 23 August.
The study from the MapBiomas project showed that Brazil lost up to 15.7% of its fresh water resources during the period.
Low water supplies were a pressing issue in Brazil last year with several crops suffering major losses due to droughts. Low water levels also affected the transportation of commodities through the Paraná River waterway, AgriCensus wrote.
The project mapped satellite images from 1985 to 2020 and showed that between 1991 and 2020, the country’s freshwater surface dropped by 3.1M ha – equivalent to about the area of Belgium – to 16.6M ha.
The research team believed that the main reasons behind the country’s water surface decline were climate change, with shorter and more concentrated periods of rain, and deforestation, AgriCensus wrote.
The deforestation of the Amazon rainforest had reduced moisture through the evapotranspiration of trees, according to project coordinator Tasso Azevedo.
Mato Grosso do Sul and Mato Grosso states, where agriculture and livestock production had significantly increased over the last few decades, had lost the most freshwater surface areas since 1985, with 781,690 and 527,687 ha lost respectively, according to the study.
NEWS Canada ramp ups WTO case against China
The Canadian government has succeeded in its second approach to the World Trade Organization (WTO) to set up a panel to look into China’s restrictions on its canola seed exports, Yahoo News reported on 27 July from a South China Morning Post article.
China suspended imports of canola from Richardson International and Viterra in March 2019, while also enhancing inspections on shipments from other Canadian companies, according to the report.
Canada’s first attempt to establish a panel had been blocked by China at the end of June, but Beijing could not gain the consensus to stop the move at a meeting of the WTO Dispute Settlement Body on 26 July in Geneva, Yahoo News wrote.
The Canola Council of Canada issued a statement saying it supported the government’s action.
“The canola industry had hoped that the bilateral consultations between Canada and China would lead to a resolution, restoring full trade in canola seed and ensuring all Canadian exporters were treated equally by the Chinese administration," it said. “In the absence of progress, this is the next step to resolve the dispute and preserve rules-based, predictable trade with China.
According to the council, Canada exported 11.8M tonnes of canola seeds to all overseas markets in 2020, with China the largest export market at 2.6M tonnes, just ahead of the European Union and Japan.
The industry body claimed that the value of Canada’s canola seed exports to China had fallen from US$2.27bn in 2018 to US$650M in 2019 and US$1.13bn in 2020.
Cargill project aims to improve cocoa bean yields
Global agribusiness giant Cargill announced on 12 August that it has partnered with vertical farm company AeroFarms in a research project aimed at improving cocoa bean yields.
The partnership would also explore climate-resilient farming practices.
“Environmental challenges and growing demand for cocoa products are placing increased pressure on the global cocoa supply chain,” Cargill Cocoa Europe managing director Niels Boetje said.
“Through partnerships with research institutes, universities and innovative companies like AeroFarms, we are collaborating to bring greater productivity and resiliency to traditional
Photo: Pixabay
Cargill says growing demand and environmental challenges are placing increased pressure on the global cocoa supply chain
cocoa farming operations.”
As part of the AeroFarms project, Cargill said they would be experimenting with different indoor growing technologies (including aeroponics and hydroponics), light, carbon dioxide, irrigation, nutrition, plant space and pruning to identify the optimal conditions for cocoa tree growth.
The research would target factors such as faster tree growth and greater yields, accelerated development of varieties with enhanced pest and disease resistance, and unlocking the cocoa bean’s full flavour and colour potential, the company said.
Cargill said initial exploratory work had begun at AeroFarms’ headquarters in New Jersey and would soon expand to its research & development indoor vertical farm in Abu Dhabi, UAE, which was due to open early next year.
AeroFarms said its indoor vertical farming technology used up to 95% less water compared with field farming.
IN BRIEF
BLACK SEA: Sunflower production in the region could rise by 6M tonnes due to improved weather conditions, AgriCensus reported on 17 August. Trade sources expected this year’s sunflower harvest to total more than 41M-42M tonnes with more than 32M tonnes from Ukraine and Russia.
In Ukraine, analysts expected the current sunflower harvest to increase to between 16.5M-17.5M tonnes due to a rise in planted area and an unexpected yield improvement.
Chinese soya import and demand to fall
Forecasts for China's soyabean demand and imports have been reduced, AgriCensus reported on 12 August from China’s Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (Casde).
The reduced forecasts were due to poor crush margins constraining buying interests and a drop in soya meal usage in feed, the report said.
China’s soyabean imports for the 2020/21 marketing year were expected to reach 98.6M tonnes, down by 1.84M tonnes from the previous month’s 100.44M tonnes estimate.
“The main reason is that crush margins have been decreasing since July. Crush volumes also dropped, while the imported soyabean inventory has increased to the highest level this year,” the Casde report said.
“Meanwhile, China’s importers postponed their purchases on an expectation that new crop prices would fall after the US harvest,” it added.
Soyabean consumption was set to fall to 113.26M tonnes and crushing demand was lowered by 3M tonnes to 95M tonnes.
“Profits for pig breeders have fallen significantly since March this year, and the usage ratio of soya meal in feedstuff also declined,” Casde said.
Meanwhile, China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs cut its edible oil output estimate for 2020/21 to 28.51M tonnes, down by 520,000 tonnes from the previous forecast, as production of sesame had been impacted by July’s flooding in Henan province, AgriCensus wrote.
For the new marketing year, China maintained its 2021/22 forecasts for soya output and imports at 18.65M tonnes and 102M tonnes, respectively.
IN BRIEF
EU: The region's oilseed harvest is forecast to reach 30.6M tonnes for 2022 due to expectations of bumper soyabean and sunflowerseed crops, according to EU Commission estimates reported by the Union for the Promotion of Oil and Protein Plants (UFOP) on 4 August.
The figure would represent an increase of just under 11% over the previous year.
Exceptional yields meant the projected increase in sunflowerseed was particularly sharp, with 10.8M tonnes of production forecast. Sunflowerseed was the second most important oilseed crop in the EU27 based on quantity, the report said.
Rapeseed, which traditionally accounted for the largest share in EU oilseed output, was also set for a larger harvest due to a 3% expansion in area.
The total EU rapeseed harvest in 2021 could amount to 16.9M tonnes, which would be a 4% yearon-year increase, the report said.
Soyabeans were the third most important EU oilseed crop. Based on a 3% expansion in planted area and an 8% increase in yield, the EU Commission estimated that the EU soyabean harvest could reach 2.9M tonnes.
This would be an 11% rise year-on-year and the largest harvest ever in the EU27.
Unilever warning of price rise for consumer products
Consumer goods giant Unilever has warned that the rising cost of edible oils and other commodities would lead to a price increase for its food and cleaning products, according to a report by The Guardian newspaper on 23 July.
The maker of household brands including Dove shampoo and Hellmann’s mayonnaise said on 22 July that the surge in the price of commodities such as palm and soyabean oils, as well as higher transportation and packaging costs, was affecting its profitability.
“Our first reflex is to look for savings in our own business to offset these costs, but these are of a magnitude that will require us to continue to make some price increases,” Unilever’s chief executive Alan Jope was quoted as saying.
Palm oil is used in the production of soaps and shampoos, while soyabean oil is used to make dressings, including Hellmann’s mayonnaise.
Shoppers were likely to see low single-digit price increases when current pricing deals with retailers expired, Jope said.
Unilever’s underlying operating profit margin in the first six months of 2021 was one percentage point lower than last year at 18.8%, according to The Guardian report, with the company expecting profit margins to be flat over the full year, having previously forecast a small increase.
New fat stays solid at room temperature
Photo: Adobe Stock
Developers of Sterolife say the solid fat can be used in food products such as spreads and bakery products A newly developed unsaturated fat that stays solid at room temperature could eventually replace the solid saturated fats commonly used by food companies, such as palm oil or coconut oil, Olive Oil Times reported on 29 July. Developed by researchers in Belgium, 'Sterolife' was “an odourless and colourless fat” according to a press release from KU Leuven University. Food companies could use Sterolife as a solid fat in food products, reducing the saturated fat content while maintaining the properties of the product.
“We believe that Sterolife will become a game-changer in the food industry and in the search for healthy alternatives to existing high-fat products,” Eva Daels, a scientist at the Food & Lipids research group was quoted as saying.
The researchers at KU Leuven said the next step was to develop the product with the aim of bringing it to the market. The new research would focus initially on existing products promoted as cholesterol-lowering which still contain a significant amount of saturated fat, Daels said.
“Initially, this will involve margarines, spreads and baking products such as biscuits, muffins and cereal bars.”
Three leading palm oil companies have launched a sustainability initiative to help independent smallholders in Indonesia, the Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) announced on 4 August.
Downstream producer Kao Corporation, exporter and trader Apical Group and upstream producer Asian Agri had joined forces to launch the programme aimed at helping smallholders improve yields, acquire international certification and improve profitability by selling certified palm oil, MPOC said. The ‘Smallholder Inclusion for better Livelihood & Empowerment’ programme (SMILE) recognised that smallholders were seeking to increase their yield and productivity but might lack the necessary knowledge or technical expertise to do so.
The aim of the 11-year programme was to continue to build a more sustainable palm oil value chain by working with independent smallholders, who contributed more than 28% to Indonesia's palm oil market, the MPOC said.
SMILE would involve a team of experts working with 5,000 independent smallholders that managed approximately 18,000ha of plantations in the provinces of North Sumatra, Riau and Jambi.
Global palm oil production totalled 75M tonnes/year and was expected to increase to 111.3M tonnes by 2025, according to the report.
