The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released the April World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, which provides updated forecasts for wheat and corn production, consumption, trade, and stocks for the 2024/25 marketing year.
Corn: world market
– Production: the forecast is increased by 0.9 million tons to 1 215.1 million tons. Increased production in the EU (+1.3 mln tonnes to 59.3 mln tonnes) due to higher harvests in Poland, Croatia, France and Germany, partially offset by lower production in Romania and Bulgaria.
– Trade: Exports are revised upward by 2.3 million tons to 188.7 million tons, mainly due to higher exports from the United States (+2.5 million tons to 64.8 million tons).
– Stocks: World ending stocks are lowered by 1.3 million tons to 287.7 million tons, reflecting a decrease in US stocks and an increase in stocks in South Korea and Pakistan.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has released its April World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE) report, which provides updated forecasts for wheat and corn production, consumption, trade, and stocks for the 2024/25 marketing year.
Wheat: global trends
– Production: downwardly revised by 0.3 mln tons to 796.9 mln tons, mainly due to lower production in Saudi Arabia and the EU.
– Consumption: decreased by 1.4 mln tons to 805.2 mln tons, due to reduced food, seed and industrial use in India and China.
– Trade: exports forecast reduced by 1.3 million tons to 206.8 million tons. Exports are expected to decline for Russia (-1.0 million tons to 44.0 million tons), Australia (-0.5 million tons to 25.5 million tons), and the EU (-0.5 million tons to 26.5 million tons), partially offset by increased exports from Canada (+0.5 million tons to 26.5 million tons) and Ukraine (+0.5 million tons to 16.0 million tons).
– Inventories: global ending stocks increased by 0.6 million tons to 260.7 million tons, down 3% year-on-year and the lowest level since 2015/16 MY.
Following the historic decision taken at the Samarkand Summit to establish a strategic partnership between Central Asia and the European Union, the region is already beginning to see the tangible economic results of this cooperation.
Under the EU’s Global Gateway program, an investment package worth €12 billionwas presented, covering four key sectors:
– transportation (€3 billion)
– critical minerals (€2.5 billion)
– hydropower and climate initiatives (€6.4 billion),
– satellite Internet (€100 million).
In addition, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development is developing a portfolio of projects worth about €7-8 billion to support transport, critical minerals, and renewable energy development, to be implemented by 2027.
In Spain, according to the National Institute of Statistics (INE), annual harmonized inflation in March 2025 fell to 2.2% from 2.9% in February, the lowest rate in the last five months and below the forecast of 2.6%. The decline in inflation was driven by a drop in electricity prices due to increased hydropower production following heavy rainfall, as well as lower prices for fuel and motor oil.
Core inflation, which excludes fresh food and energy prices, also fell to 2.0% year-on-year, reaching its lowest level since November 2021.
Euronews international news channel has announced on its official LinkedIn page the opening of a new office in Tashkent.
According to the published recruitment information, the new office will start operating on May 1, 2025.
In March of this year, Naftogaz Group paid UAH 11.7 billion to the state budget, which is UAH 3.4 billion, or 41%, more than in the same period in 2024, the company said on Wednesday.
“Naftogaz enterprises continue to increase the amount of taxes paid. In March 2025, they paid UAH 11.7 billion, which is 7.3% of the total tax revenues to the state budget of Ukraine for this month,” the group said.
In particular, the group paid UAH 11.1 billion to the state budget, and another UAH 575 million was transferred to local budgets.
“Since the beginning of the year, the amount of taxes paid has already exceeded UAH 23.2 billion. Each contribution is an important component of strengthening our economic stability,” Naftogaz CEO Roman Chumak said as quoted in the report.
As reported, in February 2025, Naftogaz Group paid UAH 5.8 billion in taxes, which is 9.4% more than in the same period in 2024.
According to the results of 2024, Naftogaz Group companies paid UAH 88.6 billion in taxes to the general budget, including UAH 81.8 billion to the state budget and UAH 6.8 billion to local budgets.
In addition, in 2024, NJSC Naftogaz of Ukraine paid UAH 15.7 billion in dividends to the state.
