Reuters • 11th May 2023

Explainer: Have Western sanctions on Russia impacted its fertiliser exports?

By Maytaal Angel LONDON, May 11 (Reuters) - Russia is demanding the West removes obstacles to its grain and fertilisers in talks underway in Turkey on Thursday on extending a deal allowing safe Black Sea exports of agricultural products from three Ukrainian ports.

Reuters • 4th April 2023

In Africa's fields, a plan to pay fair wages for chocolate withers

By Ange Aboa and Maytaal Angel SAN PEDRO, Ivory Coast/LONDON, April 4 (Reuters) - Ivorian cocoa bean farmer Edouard Kouame Kouadio expects to die poor, despite rising demand for the raw material that feeds the world's insatiable appetite for chocolate. More chocolate than ever is eaten globally, but a flagship programme launched in 2019 that promised a living wage to growers like Kouadio has left many worse off, data and interviews with growers, traders and industry experts show.

Reuters • 28th February 2023

'Doomsday' Arctic seed vault gets boost as efforts to secure food supplies ramp up

By Maytaal Angel LONDON, Feb 27 (Reuters) - A 'doomsday' Arctic seed vault on Norway's Spitsbergen island is set to receive its most diverse batch of seed donations yet as efforts secure the world's food supplies ramp up amid rising climate concerns.

Reuters • 7th December 2022

Cocoa sustainability efforts will fail without living wage for farmers - report

By Maytaal Angel LONDON, Dec 6 (Reuters) - Environmental and social problems in global cocoa supply chains are likely to continue unless companies pay farmers substantially more for their beans, according to a major report on cocoa sustainability published on Wednesday.

Reuters • 17th November 2022

Analysis: Ukraine lacks viable plan B to boost grain exports via rail, road or river

By By Pavel Polityuk, Marek Strzelecki and Maytaal Angel KYIV/WARSAW/LONDON, Nov 17 (Reuters) - Ukraine has few viable options currently to boost grain exports by rail, road or river barge anytime soon if a United Nations-brokered deal with Moscow to export by sea runs into trouble.

Reuters • 15th November 2022

Analysis: Ukraine's sparse wheat plantings sow further trouble for global food security

By Pavel Polityuk, Maytaal Angel and Nigel Hunt KYIV/LONDON, Nov 15 (Reuters) - War, rain and economic hardship have depressed Ukraine's wheat plantings, depriving the nation of vital export earnings in 2023 and heralding another year of tight global supplies and potentially high prices for basic foodstuffs.

Reuters • 4th November 2022

EXCLUSIVE Arabica coffee heads to ICE warehouses, putting pressure on prices

By Maytaal Angel and Marcelo Teixeira LONDON/NEW YORK, Nov 4 (Reuters) - Large volumes of arabica coffee are about to enter ICE exchange warehouses, traders with knowledge of the matter told Reuters, further weighing on global prices that have already hit one-year lows.

Reuters • 1st November 2022

EXCLUSIVE Brazil coffee defaults spike for second year in a row

By Maytaal Angel and Marcelo Teixeira LONDON/NEW YORK, Nov 1 (Reuters) - Brazilian coffee farmers are defaulting on contracts for a second straight year, according to traders and lawyers representing the industry, failing to deliver on pre-agreed sales and exposing trade houses to losses.

Reuters • 27th October 2022

Barry Callebaut raises the bar in bid to redefine chocolate making

By Maytaal Angel LONDON, Oct 27 (Reuters) - In a move it hopes will redefine the way chocolate is made, Swiss-based Barry Callebaut (BARN.S) launched a new bar on Thursday, the fruit of more than 20 years of research into cocoa beans.

Reuters • 25th October 2022

U.S. nitrogen exports jump as Europe scrambles for fertilizer

By Rod Nickel, Mark Weinraub and Maytaal Angel CHICAGO/LONDON, Oct 25 (Reuters) - U.S. exports of nitrogen fertilizers jumped to a multi-year high this summer after surging natural gas prices in Europe drove up costs of producing the crop nutrient there, making U.S. shipments more competitive.

Reuters • 13th October 2022

Record EU sugar prices leave sweet-makers with bitter taste

By Maytaal Angel, Sybille De La Hamaide and Michael Hogan LONDON/PARIS/HAMBURG, Oct 13 (Reuters) - Record-high sugar prices in the European Union, nearly three times levels seen a year ago following extreme weather and a surge in energy costs, are forcing confectioners to consider production cuts.

Reuters • 4th October 2022

Nestle pledges $1 billion to coffee sustainability plan

By Maytaal Angel LONDON, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Nestle (NESN.S) will spend more than 1 billion Swiss francs ($1 billion) by 2030 on efforts to source coffee sustainably, the food company said on Tuesday, more than double its previous pledge.

Reuters • 21st September 2022

Nearly 1 million people face starvation in hunger hotspots - U.N. agencies

By Maytaal Angel LONDON, Sept 21 (Reuters) - Nearly one million people in Afghanistan, Ethiopia, South Sudan, Somalia, and Yemen are starving or will face starvation this year in the absence of aid, as the global food crisis worsens, United Nations agencies warned on Wednesday.

Reuters • 25th July 2022

U.N. World Food Programme optimistic on Ukraine grain export deal

By Maytaal Angel LONDON, July 25 (Reuters) - The World Food Programme (WFP) said it was optimistic about a U.N.-brokered deal to reopen Ukrainian ports for grain exports but warned the agreement alone will not solve the global food crisis even if it is implemented effectively.

Reuters • 13th July 2022

Rising prices curb consumers' taste for chocolate

By Maytaal Angel and Jessica DiNapoli LONDON/NEW YORK, July 13 (Reuters) - Consumers are cutting back on chocolate due to the cost of living crises in Europe and the United States, according to new data and comments from executives at the world's biggest chocolate companies.

Reuters • 6th July 2022

World hunger rising as U.N. agencies warn of "looming catastrophe"

By Maytaal Angel LONDON, July 6 (Reuters) - World hunger levels rose again last year after soaring in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the Ukraine war and climate change threatening starvation and mass migration on an "unprecedented scale" this year, according to U.N. agencies.

Reuters • 16th June 2022

REFILE-EXCLUSIVE-ICE exchange coffee heads to from Europe as weather bites supply - sources

By Maytaal Angel, Marcelo Teixeira LONDON/NEW YORK, June 16 (Reuters) - Commodity traders are shipping arabica coffee from Europe-based ICE futures exchange warehouses to the United States, five trade sources told Reuters, reflecting the impact of erratic weather on global supply that could raise costs for the popular drink.

Reuters • 8th June 2022

Ukraine's grain crop at risk as silos still half full due to stalled exports

LONDON, June 8 (Reuters) - Grain silos in Ukraine's government-controlled territory are about half full in the run-up to this year's harvest, meaning crops could be left in the ground if Russia continues its port blockade, the head of the Ukraine Grain Association said on Wednesday. Russia's Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, the world's fourth largest grains exporter, halted Kyiv's Black Sea grain exports, threatening a global food crisis and triggering protests across developing countries. There a

U.S. • 7th June 2022

Ukraine grain exports capped at 2 million tonnes/month if ports remain blocked

LONDON (Reuters) - Ukraine will only be able to export a maximum 2 million tonnes of grains a month if Russia refuses to lift its blockade of the country’s Black Sea ports, Taras Vysotskyi, Ukraine’s first deputy minister of Agrarian Policy and Food, said on Tuesday. Ukraine is trying to export its vast stores of grain by road, river and rail to help to avert a global food crisis, but these routes face severe capacity constraints. Before Russia invaded Ukraine on Feb. 24, the country was able

Reuters • 7th June 2022

UK seeks investigation into alleged Ukraine grain theft by Russia

By Maytaal Angel LONDON, June 7 (Reuters) - Britain's farming minister called on Tuesday for an immediate investigation into allegations that Russia had been stealing grain from Ukraine, following Moscow's invasion which has driven up world food prices to record levels.