Some Vietnam coffee farms thrive despite drought
VIETNAMESE coffee growers have been hit hard this year by the worst drought in nearly a decade, raising concerns of pricier espressos across the world, even as some farmers keep yields healthy with clever countermeasures.
Domestic forecasts for next season’s harvest in Vietnam, the world’s second-biggest coffee producer, remain grim.
| Soybean Oil Production | ||
|---|---|---|
| Market | % of Global Production | Total Production (2023/2024, Metric Tons) |
| China | 28% | 17.74 Million |
| United States | 20% | 12.23 Million |
| Brazil | 17% | 10.8 Million |
| Argentina | 11% | 7.01 Million |
| European Union | 5% | 2.83 Million |
| India | 3% | 2 Million |
| Mexico | 2% | 1.2 Million |
| Russia | 2% | 1.06 Million |
| Paraguay | 1% | 665,000 |
| Iran | 0.85% | 532,000 |
China’s increased dairy self-sufficiency
China’s growing self-sufficiency in dairy production is having a profound influence on global dairy trade, according to a recent market report from Rabobank. As China produces more dairy products domestically, New Zealand must seek alternative markets for its whole milk powder exports, leading to greater global dairy export competition and below-average milk powder prices.
China’s monumental achievement in self-sufficiency in milk production, representing a staggering 11 m metric tons from 2018 to 2023, has left an indelible mark on the global dairy sector. The country’s whole milk powder (WMP) imports plunged from an average of 670,000 metric tons between 2018 and 2022 to a mere 430,000 metric tons in 2023.
Mary Ledman, Global Strategist for Dairy at Rabobank, describes the global dairy sector as a row of dominoes, with China’s demand representing the first domino, followed by New Zealand’s supply, and finally a key commodity: WMP.
“If China’s demand falls, it triggers a chain reaction, causing each subsequent domino to topple. This has inevitably intensified competition among the existing dairy-exporting regions and led to lower-than-average global milk powder prices,” Ledman said.
Experts: what is causing food prices to spike around the world?
Spiking food prices have made headlines around the world this year, from eggs in the US to vegetables in India. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization’s Food Price Index has been slowly increasing over the past six months following declines over much of 2023. For example, the price of orange juice concentrate in the US was 42 percent higher in April than it was a year ago, while the price of fresh orange juice in the UK has risen 25 percent over the last year. In Greece, the price of olive oil rose by nearly 30 percent over 2023 and by more than 63 percent in April of this year. No single factor alone can explain the rising prices. But geopolitical conflict, extreme weather events, high input costs and increased demand are all playing a role. The FAO’s recent Food Outlook report finds that, despite positive forecasts, “global food production systems remain vulnerable to shocks stemming from extreme weather events, geopolitical tensions, policy changes and developments in other markets”.
UAE contributes USD 25 million to UN world food programme
The United Arab Emirates has signed an agreement with the UN World Food Programme (WFP) to provide emergency food assistance to populations affected by the crisis in Sudan and South Sudan. This includes refugees, host communities, internally displaced people, and returnees impacted by the war. The agreement, formalised between the UAE Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MOFA) and WFP, was signed on the behalf of the UAE by Sultan Al Shamsi, Assistant Minister for International Development Affairs, and on the behalf of WFP by Matthew Nims, Director of Washington Office, and in the presence of Lana Zaki Nusseibeh, Assistant Minister of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs, and Amina Mohammed, Deputy Secretary-General, at a special ceremony at the UAE Mission to the UN in New York. 17.7 million people in Sudan and 7.1 million in South Sudan facing acute food insecurity as a result of war in Sudan. To help alleviate this crisis, UAE has committed a total of US$25 million in aid: USD 20 million for Sudan and US$5 million for South Sudan.
Unlocking Nigeria’s economic potential with natural gas
Nigeria is an established oil producer grappling with declining market share and dimming economic prospects – but it could reverse its fortunes if authorities take a proactive approach to exploration and export, namely for natural gas. The country has the second-largest proven oil reserves in Africa, after Libya. It sits on the 10th-largest proven oil reserves in the world, with roughly 2 percent of global reserves behind Venezuela, Saudi Arabia, Iran, Iraq, the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Kuwait, Russia, the United States and Libya. It is also the oldest sub-Saharan OPEC member country, having joined the producer group in 1971. For 42 years (1979-2021), Nigeria dominated Africa’s oil production. At its prime in 2010, its production reached 2.5 million barrels per day – equivalent to more than a quarter of the continent’s total output. However, since that peak, due to difficult investment and security environments and producers exiting the country, Nigeria’s oil production has experienced one of the fastest declines in Africa, shrinking at an average annual rate of 5 percent from 2012 to 2022, when Nigeria produced 1 million barrels per day less than its peak volume.