News

Ukraine is to attempt to reverse a long-running fall in sugar beet production which has turned the country into a sugar importer at a time of soaring prices. Kiev is to encourage farmers to raise beet plantings by 37% in 2010, to help boost domestic sugar output by some 80% to 2.5m tonnes, deputy farm minister Ivan Demchak said, according to the Kommersant newspaper.

Soybeans fell the most in four sessions on speculation that China, the world’s biggest importer, may shift from U.S. supplies to shipments from South America, where farmers begin harvesting in February.

Brazil and Argentina, the two biggest soybean growers after the U.S., may produce a record 116 million metric tons next year, up 30 percent, the U.S. Department of Agriculture says. Brazil will harvest 64.6 million tons, the most ever and up from 57.2 million this year, the Agriculture Ministry said today.

Nineteen biofuel refinery projects have been selected to receive as much as $564 million in funding under the economic stimulus program, the U.S. energy and agriculture secretaries said.

Although the funding is conditional on final contracts being signed, it is a major boost for the industry and will likely accelerate the expansion of the next generation of biofuels.

Increasing protection of agricultural industries by advanced economies, including the United States and European Union, in the name of environmental interests and greenhouse gas reductions threatens next week’s climate change talks, according to World Growth, a non-governmental aid organization.