Browse Data and Analysis

Though relatively small, the Costa Rican food processing sector relies on U.S. exporters to maintain critical supply chains. Proximity, reliability, and familiarity help make the United States the preferred supplier for a wide range of food processing ingredients, including wheat, corn, and animal proteins.

For MY 2024/25, Post forecasts cotton area to grow 13 percent compared to the current season, to 1.87 million hectares. Post also forecasts cotton production at a record 15.4 million bales (3.3 million metric tons (MMT)) on the back of significant area increase.

India is gearing up for a record wheat harvest in market year (MY) 2024/2025. FAS New Delhi (Post) forecasts India's wheat production at 112.5 million metric tons (MMT), thanks to the timely and record plantings of wheat, which benefitted from favorable weather conditions from the time of planting through the reproductive growth stages.

Rice export prices further declined 1-3 percent due to the weakening of the Thai baht against the U.S. dollar and the downward price pressure from the new MY2023/24 off-season rice supplies.

Post forecasts marketing year (MY) 2024/25 production at 0.91 million 480-lb bales, basically flat compared to MY 2023/24 due to high input costs, drought conditions, power outages, and lack of access to new genetically engineered seed varieties.

For MY 2024/25, Post estimates that wheat area harvested will total 195,000 hectares (ha), a 2.5 percent decrease from MY 2023/24 to due to high input costs and low prices. Wheat production will reach 1.17 million metric tons (MMT).

Guatemala continues to be a net importer of both yellow corn and rice. Corn area and production in MY2024/2025 are forecast to slightly increase to keep up with increased consumption for both food and feed; the avian sector keeps steady growth at 3-4 percent annually.

Vietnam’s economy is on the path to recovery. Post revises Vietnam’s MY2022/23 soybean meal consumption down to 5.65 MMT due to lower aquaculture feed consumption and forecasts an increase to 5.85 MMT in MY 2023/24.

On December 29, 2023, the People’s Republic of China (PRC) submitted two major reports related to climate change to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC): the Fourth National Communication on Climate Change (NC4) and the Third Biennial Update Report on Climate Change (BUR3).

In 2023, Mexico imported $51 billion of food ingredient products, of which 63 percent were sourced from the United States. Mexico’s food processing industry is the second largest in Latin America, behind Brazil, making Mexico a top destination for U.S. food ingredients.

The food processing industry represents the fourth-largest industry in Germany. According to the Federation of German Food and Drink Industries (BEV) estimates, Germany produced $238.9 (€ 218.5) billion of processed food and drinks in 2022.

Colombia’s food and beverage industry decreased by two percent in 2023 due to stagnating economic growth.