In light of increased volatility and uncertainty, not least related to geopolitical factors and climate-induced production fluctuations, many countries have been forced to rethink their approach to food security. While some importers have reconsidered the role of trade in their contingency plans and shifted from “just in time” to “just in case” purchases, mounting logistical challenges require a broad-based collaborative effort to ensure continuous commodity flows. This session will provide an opportunity for exporting and importing countries to discuss the role of grains and oilseeds trade in creating a more resilient and flexible global food system.
Global grains and oilseeds trade has faced another year of challenges, including risks related to reduced access to supplies and logistical disruption, such as restrictions on the number of vessels traversing the Panama Canal. This session will explore key issues impacting trade, with a particular focus on topics such as crop production, international transportation and plant health.
While inflationary pressures have eased from earlier highs, interest rates remain elevated in a number of key economies and regions, thereby serving as a disincentive to investment decisions and trade financing. Furthermore, geopolitical conflicts have caused disruption to trade flows, including of agricultural products, adding to the costs associated with freight and insurance. Touching on these and other factors, this session will provide an opportunity for stakeholders to discuss opportunities and challenges shaping trade finance in the agricultural sector against the broader economic backdrop.
Digitalisation is more than just a promising technology that can support producers in farming efficiency and productivity. It can also support the collection and reporting of sustainability metrics, underpin resiliency and decision-making with real-time data and analysis, connect supply chains and enable trade through trusted credentialing and visibility. The panel will take stock of digitalisation, assessing ways in which further advances can accelerate the ongoing process, while scaling up efficiencies for the grains industry sector
Productivity matters. During the last two decades, close to 1.0bn t of grains and oilseeds have been added to the global balance sheet. Furthermore, the global stocktake issued at the end of the United Nations Climate Change Conference (COP28) encouraged the implementation of sustainable agriculture and resilient food systems as a part of climate change responses. This session would develop a discussion between stakeholders on projects involving changes across the agricultural sector, as well as the impact on the grains market.
Central Asia occupies an important position in terms of supply and demand, and is notably an appreciable supplier of high-quality wheat. Many countries are landlocked and face logistical challenges in accessing the world market. As a consequence, they are developing strategic policies aimed at increasing local output and improving the regional integration of grains operators. This panel will provide an opportunity for official representatives and the private sector, including trading companies, to discuss business opportunities, particularly in relation to infrastructure investments.
As a global advocate for the plant science industry, CropLife International champions innovative technologies that enable farmers to sustainably increase productivity while managing the critical challenges facing our climate and the environment. Despite technological advances improving the efficiency of the seed research and development process, unpredictable and politically influenced regulatory timelines coupled with a desire for global fungibility delay the ability to deliver innovation to farmers and benefit for positive impacts on climate, the environment and biodiversity. Join this talk about regulatory fragmentation around seed technology, and other secondary standards, pressing against a true cost-effective fungible system.
There has been a recent notable shift in global maize trade dynamics, with Brazil overtaking the US to become the world’s single largest exporter and China now established as a regular, and large importer. Against the backdrop of reduced shipments from Ukraine and Argentina, weather-related disruptions to internal shipping operations in Brazil and the US has led to a renewed focus on the sustainable and long-term infrastructure investments needed to ensure global import needs can be met. The panel will discuss the latest maize trade patterns and examine how importers can adapt to the changes.
To a large extent, wheat trade flows in the coming 2024/25 season will be shaped by export availabilities in the main suppliers, with mixed production forecasts pointing to potential notable shifts in market shares among the key players. While quality considerations will also play an important role, especially in the wake of the prior year’s well-documented issues, much will also rest on logistics, including developments at the major global chokepoints. This workshop will discuss prospects for wheat trade in the season ahead, underpinned by production outlooks and envisaged changes in freight routes and costs.
Pulses have grown in popularity in recent years, shaped by various influences, particularly the growing awareness of their health benefits and role in promoting environmental sustainability. Overall utilisation is being driven by growing demand for plant-protein based foods, while uptake of pulses in feed sectors is also expanding, including in the pet food market. This session will assess prospects for global consumption in the coming years, both geographically and by market sector.
Over more than a decade, the production of biofuels – notably biodiesel and renewable diesel – has scaled new heights, with much of the expansion shaped by mandated programmes in Asia and the Americas which have absorbed increasing volumes of palm and soyabean oils. While the US and Brazil remain the dominant soyabean exporters, domestic requirements have had a significant impact on soyabean products trade, restricting soya oil exports while simultaneously boosting soyameal availabilities. Experts will explore recent changes in shipment flows and assess prospects for meeting the world’s energy and food needs in the years ahead.
South Asia’s two billion people, largely from India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and Sri Lanka, are forming an ever greater component of global demand for grains and oilseeds. However, while population and economic growth, as well as dietary changes, underpin steady consumption gains, interactions with world markets fluctuate due to changing crop outcomes and trade policies. Over the last decade, India’s wheat exports have ranged from meagre amounts to almost 10m tons. Moreover, rice shipments reached a record high during the COVID-19 pandemic, yet have recently been curtailed by trade restrictions, while Pakistan’s rice exports in 2022/23 were curtailed by a flood-damaged outturn. On the import side too, South Asia is the world’s largest buying region of pulses and vegetable oils, and changes to tariffs often shape purchases. This panel will examine South Asia’s future role in global grains and oilseeds markets in 2024 and beyond.