Shutdown Hitting Farmers and U.S.-China Port Fees
From the Ag Information Network, I’m Bob Larson and this is your Agribusiness Update.
**The government shutdown is hitting the nation’s farmers and ranchers in multiple ways.
Politico points out the shutdown is stalling the delivery of farm loans, the release of critical market reports, and the administration’s plan for emergency assistance.
Row-crop producers have been weathering uncertainty for months, including tariff troubles and high input.
Politico says every day the government isn’t open adds to the anxiety in farm country.
**The U.S. and China have begun charging competing port fees on ocean shipping firms that move everything from holiday toys to crude oil.
Reuters says the new fees will make the high seas a key front in the continuing trade war between the world’s biggest economies.
China has started collecting the levies on U.S.-owned, operated, built, or flagged vessels, but clarified that Chinese-built ships are exempt from the same levies.
**Chinese soybean imports jumped year over year in September.
Bank of America Global Research said in a note to clients that soybean imports by volume jumped more than 13% last month versus 1.2% in August.
Imports from Brazil were up 24%, which compares with a 1.4% year-over-year decline in August.
However, purchases from the U.S. were down more than 16% on an annual basis, in line with the previous month’s decline.
