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Brazil is the world’s second-largest ethanol and third-largest biodiesel producer but has yet to introduce renewable diesel or sustainable aviation fuel. Post forecasts total ethanol production at 32.5 billion liters in CY 2024, with cane ethanol forecast at 25.5 billion liters and corn ethanol production at seven billion liters.

Uruguayan beef exports in 2025 are forecast to remain unchanged at 475,000 tons carcass weight equivalent (cwe). The final volume will depend on how active Chinese buyers are the remainder of the year and FOB prices. Exports to the United States are projected to remain high.

Brazil is the third-largest cattle producer and second-largest beef exporter in the world. Post forecasts decreased slaughter in 2025, due to the forecasted start of the reversion of the cattle cycle. Producers are likely to start retaining cattle in 2025, driving calf prices upwards.

The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference (TCRC), representing 9,000 unionized workers at Canadian National (CN) and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Ltd (CPKC), officially walked off the job at midnight Eastern time on Thursday, August 22, reportedly marking the first time that simultaneous stoppages have occurred for Canada’s two major rail lines.

On August 1, 2024, the Egyptian Organization for Standardization and Quality notified the World Trade Organization’s (WTO) Committee on Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) of a draft amendment to Egypt’s shelf life for certain food products (see G/TBT/N/EGY/212/Add.8).

Colombia’s raw milk production has remained steady in the last decade, with an average annual growth rate of 0.8 percent. The sector is still largely informal, with a 47 percent collection rate in 2023 from producers into the formal market.

For the past decade, Chile’s planted cherry area maintained steady growth, due to its profitability. There is a high demand for Chilean cherries from the Chinese market, which receives over 91 percent of Chilean cherry export volume.

On August 8, 2024, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) opened a 60-day consultation as part of their ongoing drafting of a new national potato wart response plan.

Egypt’s sugar production in marketing year 2024/25 (October to September) is forecast to reach 2.6 million metric tons, down 110,000 tons from USDA official MY2023/24 production estimates on lower cane sugar production.

In 2023, U.S. agriculture exports to El Salvador reached $860 million, a slight drop of 12 percent compared to 2022 due mainly to lower wheat and oil seeds imports. However, the consumer-oriented products category saw a promising increase from $349 million to $364 million, marking a 4.4 percent growth.

On August 9, 2024, the Canada Industrial Relations Board (CIRB) announced its ruling that work stoppage due to strike or lockout, from Canada’s two major railway companies, Canadian National (CN) Railway and Canadian Pacific Kansas City Limited (CPKC), would not present a threat to public health and safety.

Chilean raisins are almost exclusively produced from grapes deemed unsuitable for the export market at vineyards focused on fresh table grape production for export. In marketing year (MY) 2024/25, Post estimates that due to low area planted, raisin production will total 68,900 metric tons (MT), a 6.9 percent decrease from MY 2023/24.