North American Agribusiness Review October 2023

This periodical update provides a market outlook for dairy, cattle, wheat, and other key commodities, and gives the following overview of what developments to watch in the upcoming months in North America:

• Economy: Challenges
• Climate: Crop looks secure despite dryness, while El Niño persists into 2024
• Logistics: Low demand, schedule reliability, emissions surcharges, and rising fuel costs
• Consumer Retail & Foodservice: Downtrading and continued search for value
• Cattle: Cattle supplies tighten as drought remains a concern across relatively wide swaths of North America
• Corn: Will additional demand materialize to accommodate “better-than-expected” yields
• Dairy: Milk production marked two consecutive months of weakness, driven by a smaller herd size and lower yield
• Farm Inputs: Soybean farmers beware
• Feed: Pasture and range conditions are better, but remain below average
• Fruit: Blueberry, table grape, and stone fruit prices are higher as weather irregularities impact availability
• Pork: Improved productivity and slow herd reductions will pressure market
• Poultry: Chicken production moves lower; prices slow to respond
• Soybeans: Renewable diesel production gets ahead of itself
• Sweeteners: Drought continues to add pressure in the region
• Tree Nuts: Harvest time featuring a record pistachio crop in California
• Vegetables: US potato production rebounds
• Wheat: Global stocks remain tight on production woes

Visit research.rabobank.com for the full report.

By Al Griffin