Not So Invisible Hand Stirs Ethanol

Government policies shape biofuels markets Sometime around the middle of last year, the US surged ahead of Brazil to become the world’s highest-volume exporter of ethanol. According to the Department of Energy’s Energy Information Administration (EIA), the US boosted...

read more

Looking for Cool

Top product searches of our import data focus on refrigerants The most frequent product search of Datamyne’s US import data in December was for R134a (a.k.a. hydrofluorocarbon-134A, or HFC-134a, or 1,1,1,2–tetrafluoroethane), a refrigerant used in most car air...

read more

What Brazil Is Buying

Cotton and ethanol leap into Brazil’s top 5 imports from the US by Bill Armbruster, blog anchor China has roared past the US to become Brazil’s top trade partner, but the US is still the top exporter to the Latin American giant, and those exports – plus the US surplus...

read more

Regulatory Mélange

Grocery Manufacturers Association recommends a blend of US-EU food standards The Grocery Manufacturers Association (GMA) just endorsed a new bill in Congress aimed at Agricultural Trade Facilitation – that is, lowering barriers to US agricultural exports. Pamela G....

read more

Japan’s Chemical Reaction

Trade data captures disruptions in Japan’s organic chemicals exports In our last follow-up on Japan’s triple disaster in March (“Gauging Japan Disaster’s Impact”), we quoted Port of Long Beach spokesman Art Wong on the repercussions for container trade: “Ships take...

read more

China Beckons GMOs

Sinochem and Monsanto talk about joint venturing Sinochem, China’s state-owned chemicals conglomerate and top exporter, and Monsanto, the US-based provider of agrochemicals and biotechnology aimed at increasing farm productivity, are reported (by the Wall Street...

read more