Miller Magazine Issue: 151 July 2022

99 ARTICLE MILLER / JULY 2022 The second day was dedicated to commodity discus- sions on recent market developments: SOYABEANS With growing populations and rising incomes boosting demand for feed and food use in particular, global soy- abean utilisation has expanded strongly over the past decade and more. And with many consumers – especial- ly in Asia, by far the biggest importing region – heavily reliant on the world market to satisfy needs, traded vol- umes have risen by about 80% in the past ten years. As a consequence, planting decisions in the world’s largest producers, namely Brazil and the US, have become ever more closely linked to prospects for international sales, with exports by Brazil more-than-doubling to around 90m t and accounting for more than half of world ship- ments. While recent years have seen moderate growth in volumes, the Council expects trade to advance in future. The workshop discussed domestic and international requirements in the world’s leading producers and ex- porters, namely what are the priorities moving forward and can both markets continue to grow? Moreover, the US, Brazil and Argentina are home to sizeable domestic feed sectors, while food and industrial (biodiesel and re- newable diesel) segments are important in shaping local demand. In highlighting the relative importance of both market avenues, aggregate domestic use in 2020/21 to- talled 154m t compared to combined exports of 157m t. The workshop, featuring a panel of international ex- perts, assessed prospects for domestic and global de- mand in future years, highlighting how existing and emerging trends will likely shape growth potential. Dis- cussions touched upon the role of policy – particularly with regard to biofuels sectors in key producers. MAIZE Despite rising concerns about the impact of the live- stock sector on climate change, global meat production and consumption is expected to continue its uptrend in the medium term, potentially leading to increased feed- ing of maize, by far the main feed grain. While trade in maize is expected to remain elevated in 2022/23, pro- jected large harvests in the main exporters of the grain suggest that competition for overseas business will re- main strong in the season ahead. Aside from the size and quality of exportable availabilities, as well as produc- tion costs and currency considerations, exporters’ pric- es, and their respective market positions, will continue to