Deep sea ports in Russia are set to increase their handling fees from October amid huge crop estimates, sources told AgriCensus on 20 August.

Global agricultural commodity company Glencore Agriculture has announced it will rebrand as Viterra in late 2020, World Grain reported on 20 August.

A new study suggests obesity increases the risk of dying from COVID-19 by 48% and may make vaccines against the disease less effective, News Medical reported on 26 August.

Global derivatives and commodities exchange CME Group is planning to launch a South American Soybean (Platts) Futures contract on 21 September.

Global agribusiness giant ADM has reduced its stake in Asian agribusiness Wilmar in order to raise additional capital.

International beauty giant L’Oréal has developed a waterless sunscreen using liquid carnauba wax, Cosmetics Design-Europe reported on 13 August.

The USA will continue to impose a 25% tariff on agricultural exports from the EU, including packaged olive oils from Spain, following a review by the United States Trade Representative (USTR), Olive Oil Times reported on 18 August.

US President Donald Trump announced on Twitter that he would sign the first phase of a deal with China on 15 January, calming a trade war that has seen the imposition of billions of dollars worth of tariffs since July 2018, Bloomberg reports.

South Korea’s SK Chemicals has started tests on blending its biodiesel with petroleum-based fuels to create low-sulphur marine oil that will comply with new green shipping fuel standards, Reuters reports.

US agricultural bioscience company Yield10 Bioscience announced on 17 August that it had obtained a positive response from the USDA-APHIS’s Biotechnology Regulatory Services (BRS) for its CRISPR genome-edited C3007 trait in canola plant lines developed for increased oil content.

Global agribusiness giant ADM has teamed up with renewable chemicals company P2 Science to develop a set of plant-based products, Perfumer & Flavorist reported on 29 July.

US energy company Phillips 66 is planning to reconfigure its San Francisco refinery to produce renewable fuels, Biofuels Digest reported on 13 August.

Brazil’s state-run oil company Petrobras says it is ready to produce renewable diesel from soya or other edible oils at commercial scale as soon as it gains regulatory approval, Reuters reported on 1 August.