Country News
Canada: Corn for grain production will decrease by 2.9 percent from 2015 to 13 MMT. Declines in both planted area and yields are reported in both Quebec and Ontario. (StatsCanada)
Japan: Fuel ethanol use, mostly imported, is rising and imports in 2017 are expected to be 64 percent above the government mandated use level of 500 million liters. Discussions to set the post-2017 use level begin next year and discussions about changing the sustainability requirement could begin this year. The country’s carbon and land use calculations related to ethanol currently limit imports to that produced using sugarcane. (USDA FAS GAIN)
South Africa: White corn futures experienced their largest decline (-3.5 percent) in 14 months as 74,418 tons’ worth of imports from Mexico hit the market early this month. Grain SA estimates that one million tons of white corn will need to be imported, of which about one-third has entered thus far this year. (Bloomberg)
United Kingdom: The number of pubs is declining, pressured downward by several factors (housing values, changes in consumption patterns, etc.) but one includes the 21 percent hike in the cost of barley due to rain damage on the Continent. (Bloomberg)