* Indian Sugar Mills Association said on Tuesday that it expects the country to produce 26.8m tonnes of sugar for the 2019-20 season (which started in October).

This is 5% lower than the association’s previous estimate of 28.2m tonnes.

India produced a record 33.16m tonnes of sugar in the 2018-19 season.

* China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs announced plans to cut the number of small-scale slaughterhouses in the country in a bid to control the spread of African swine fever.

The ministry said that a number of small slaughterhouses have outdated production techniques and do not conduct proper pork quality checks.

It will kick off a review process in November and shut down businesses that do not meet requirements.

* Brazil’s agriculture minister, Tereza Cristina Dias, announced via Twitter that China has approved seven Brazilian meat plants to export pork innards to the country.

The plants include one operated by BRF and two by JBS.

* Marubeni’s chief financial officer said on Wednesday that the company has no plans to let go of Gavilon, its US agribusiness unit.

Nobuhiro Yabe told the audience at the company’s earnings news conference that Marubeni expected Gavilon to contribute around $70m to its earnings this business year.

* Data from the European Commission showed that the EU had imported 4.4m tonnes of soybeans by November 3 from the start of the 2019-20 season in July.

This was down 2% compared with the volume imported by October 28 in 2018.

Soymeal imports reached 6.5m tonnes during the period, up 17% compared to 2018-19.

Palm oil imports were at 1.8m tonnes, down 13%.