Rudisa Holdings, a Surinamese company which acquired the old Coca-Cola plant in Kingston, Jamaica, in 2009, has abandoned any idea of making soft drinks there.

While sales of low juice content juice drinks are falling, Chinese consumers are eagerly heading for 100% juice products and sales of NFC juices are growing extremely fast.

Varying supply and demand are causing prices of Indian processed mango to vary, says Vivek Vijayan, sales director of India’s ABC Fruits.

The Brazilian health ministry is considering a proposal to hike taxes on sugary beverages in the country. A technical team from the ministry has already conducted a survey of the existing tax system and is now addressing relevant stakeholders in order to finalise a proposal. 

With European buyers heading to China to buy AJC, after a hiatus of several years, Chinese AJC production will be in much closer balance with world demand.

The damage done by Irma to Florida’s orange groves will have a big impact not only on this year, but also on the years to come, according to a speaker at this week’s China Juice conference.

The winter pineapple season started in Thailand with the opening of all the eastern facilities of the country in early September after the traditional maintenance break in August. Encouraging estimate prices and volumes have been released this week by the Thai Food Processors Association (TFPA). 

The San Francisco based Del Monte Pacific has sold vegetables processor Sager Creek to the canner McCall Farms for USD55 million, the company announced on Thursday. 

Members of the North Italian organisation of tomato processors, OI Pomodoro, have created a fund to assists all growers whose crop has been affected by the bacterium Ralstonia solanacearum. 

Processed tomato exports in the world decreased by 13% in the first half of the year (H1) compared with the same period last year. The four largest suppliers, Italy, China, US and Spain, followed this downtrend. 

The government of Japan will conduct 59 tests to detect possible genetically modified (GM) salmon exported to the country, a USDA report stated. The tests will cover all Atlantic salmon exports to Japan from Canada, Panama and the US. 

The Mexican tuna giants Grupomar, Herdez del Fuerte, Pesca Azteca and Procesa have achieved the Marine Stewardship Council (MSC) certificate of sustainability. 

As the 2016/17 cocoa season comes to an end, West Africa’s main players; Ivory Coast, Ghana, Nigeria and Cameroon, have all produced bumper cocoa crops, judging from output figures released so far.

Futures contracts for both London and New York cocoa revitalized during today’s trading, following yesterday’s lows, however with more bearish news on the horizon, how long will it last?

Arabica coffee future prices fell. Market sources pointed to persistent speculative selling against a friendlier weather outlook in Brazil.

The potential for increased production in coffee plantations in the main producing regions of Brazil next season is already partially compromised because of difficult weather conditions that the crop was exposed to, according to local analysts.

As the UK moves surely, if unsteadily, towards the EU exit door, dairy producers and buyers are already planning for a post-Brexit future.

Peruvian exports of Brazil nuts amounted to USD23.49 mln in the first half of this year, an increase of 58% from the same period last year, announced the Peruvian Association of Exporters (ADEX). 

This week sees the prestigious bi-annual UK Dried Fruit Conference, hosted jointly by the UK’s National Dried Fruit Trade Association and California Raisins. 

Spain’s Borges Agricultural & Industrial Nuts (BAIN), Spanish financial services company CaixaBank and the rural development and cooperation association ACORD have signed an agreement to back an investment project that will help to realise the farming component of a pistachio nut production scheme in Segarra-Garrigues. 

Bolivian-based Brazil nut exporter Empresa Boliviana de Almendras y Derivados (EBA) has suspended Brazil nut exports to Europe and the US in order to prioritise the domestic market, due to low availability of Brazil nuts following a drought that harmed the 2016/17 crop, said Patricia Ballivián, general manager at Bolivia’s Service for the Development of Productive Public Companies (SEDEM).

The 2017 California Prune harvest is projected to reach 105,000 short tons (95,254 tonnes), according to forecasts by the USDA and the National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS). 

This season, the continent may harvest 27.9 million tonnes of potatoes for consumption, about 11.5% higher than the five-year average but still below the 2014’s record-high of 28.5 mln tonnes, according to North-Western European Potato Growers’ early estimates.

The certified organic cultivated area in the country grew by 30% between 2015 and 2016, but the organic area for berries earmarked for processing showed substantial contraction, a report from the Chilean Office of Agricultural Studies and Policies (ODEPA) stated.

The Chinese province of Shaanxi, one of the most important apple growing regions in the country, has started reporting processing apple prices.

A long drought that characterised the raspberry growing season this year in Bulgaria caused raspberry yields in the country to drop up to 50% compared with the previous year, said Bozidar Petkov, chairman of Bulgaria's raspberry growers’ association. 

The US exported last year 74% more organic fruits and vegetables to Taiwan than in 2015, a USDA report stated. 

São Paulo’s official parliamentary inquiry commission (CPI) that investigated formation of cartels in the state’s citrus juice industry has published its final report in which the commission proposed the creation of a new CPI to continue the work and conclude the investigation.

This season, the continent may harvest 27.9 million tonnes of potatoes for consumption, about 11.5% higher than the five-year average but still below the 2014’s record-high of 28.5 mln tonnes, according to North-Western European Potato Growers’ early estimates.

The certified organic cultivated area in the country grew by 30% between 2015 and 2016, but the organic area for berries earmarked for processing showed substantial contraction, a report from the Chilean Office of Agricultural Studies and Policies (ODEPA) stated.

A long drought that characterised the raspberry growing season this year in Bulgaria caused raspberry yields in the country to drop up to 50% compared with the previous year, said Bozidar Petkov, chairman of Bulgaria's raspberry growers’ association. 

The US exported last year 74% more organic fruits and vegetables to Taiwan than in 2015, a USDA report stated. 

Argentinean blueberry exporters are seeking new export markets for their fruit in a bid to diversify export destinations and reduce the country’s dependency on the US that received seven out of 10 kilos of exported Peruvian blueberries last year. 

The Belgian potato processors Lutosa has announced the launch of five new frozen products at the Cologne-based food show to be held on October 7-11. 

Chicago wheat futures ended lower with December down 3¢ at USD4.49 1/2 while Kansas City and Minneapolis futures closed higher.

Ideas that the usually high quality Australian wheat crop might end up well under market expectations, tonnage-wise, helped revive bullish sentiment in the broader market this week.

Overnight, corn futures traded higher with the December contract up 2¢ at USD3.52 1/4, following the lead of soybeans which also moved higher overnight.

Futures were higher this morning, continuing Thursday’s gains.

Following are key topics, developments and market actions traders are focusing on ahead of the US trading day:

Seven percent more breeding cows were slaughtered in Brazil in the first half of this year compared with the same period in 2016, according to data from the Brazilian Institute of Geography and Statistics. The number of male cattle slaughtered fell by 6% in the same period. The overall fall in cattle slaughter was 0.8%.

The level of cattle on feed in the US was 10.5 million head on September 1, up four percent from year-ago, according to USDA's Cattle on Feed report.

Egg prices in the EU have risen dramatically in recent weeks with the biggest rises seen in countries directly affected by the fipronil scandal.

Brazil exported 66,855 tonnes of pigmeat last month – the highest total ever recorded in August.

UK-based researchers have said insights derived from mapping the genetic code of sheep could have the potential to improve the animals' health and aid breeding programs.

Faced with the possibility of less favourable access to the EU market after Brexit, UK meat and livestock producers are increasingly looking outside of Europe for potential sources of growth.

Soybean futures closed with double-digit gains as November was up 13 1/2¢ at USD9.84 1/2.

Corn futures ended higher Friday (September 22) with December gaining 3 1/4¢ at USD3.53 1/2, its highest mark since September.

November soybean futures gained 7 1/2¢ in overnight trading on concerns about dryness in Brazil and technically driven buying close to the 200-day moving average.

The cost of raw material cassia continues to go up slowly but surely in Kerinci, a report from Cassia Co-op noted. 

Brazilian garlic growers are expected to harvest 132,074 tonnes of the product this year, down almost 1% from 133,217 tonnes harvested last season, according to Brazil’s statistics agency IBGE. 

A Greek honey is among the latest EU agri-food products to be given protection on the EU’s internal market.

Cumin seed supplies out of Syria are diminishing as the country sells out of stocks from its 2017 crop, due to steady demand for the new crop.

Guatemala’s exports of cardamom declined 17.6% in the first six months of this year to 19,158 tonnes. This is perhaps unsurprising in view of the origin’s smaller crop in 2016/17. 

The global market showed a mixed response during the week to September 8, the International Pepper Community (IPC) observed in its weekly Prices Bulletin released today.

Raw sugar futures in New York remained almost unchanged on Thursday amid lack of fresh fundamental news. Traders said that the market has found a short-term equilibrium.

Malawi’s country-specific allocation of the tariff-rate quota (TRQ) for raw cane sugar imports to the US has increased by 45% in the fiscal year 2017, according to local press reports.

Vietnamese sugar company Thanh Thanh Cong Tay Ninh (SBT) is acquiring Bien Hoa (BHS) in the hope being competitive in both the domestic and regional market, according to local press reports.