* Honduras’s national coffee institute said on Tuesday that exports dropped 28.3% in August compared to last year, totaling 339,566 60-kg bags for the month.

According to the institute, the drop in exports is due to falling coffee prices negatively impacting production in the country.

Coffee exports for the first 11 months of the current 2018-19 season reached 6.63m bags, down 4% from the 6.92m bags shipped during the same period last year.

* Kazakhstan’s Minister of Agriculture, Saparkhan Omarov said on Tuesday that, due to poor weather conditions, the country’s grain and flour exports would drop to an estimated 7m tonnes for the 2019-20 marketing year.

This is much lower than the 9m tonnes forecast previously.

Some of the country’s key grain-growing regions are currently experiencing extreme heat and drought.

* Brazilian government data showed that the country exported a record-breaking 7.65m tonnes of corn in August.

This is the country’s highest monthly amount ever and is more than double the 2.9m tonnes exported during August 2018.

Ethanol exports in August reached 314m litres, the highest since October 2013.

* Dow Jones reported that arabica coffee prices in west Cameroon saw their second week of increases.

According to the news service an increase in traders in the area has helped prices climb 4.3% to 1,080 Central African francs ($1.81) for a kilogramme from the 1,035 Central African francs it sold for the week before.

* Russian state-controlled bank, VTB is looking into expanding its grain business by entering markets in Africa, the Middle East and Asia.

According to Reuters, Vitaly Sergeichuk, the bank’s deputy head of client relations in market regions said that the move will help increase Russian grain exports and help VTS gain significant market share in Russia and abroad.

* China’s commerce ministry said on Monday that it has laid a complaint against the US with the World Trade Organization (WTO) over import duties.

The ministry said in a statement that the US’s latest round of tariffs violated the consensus reached by the two countries in a meeting in Osaka.

It also said that China will defend its rights according to WTO rules.

* China’s Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs said on Monday that the country is investigating reports that farmers are using experimental vaccines to cure pigs of African swine fever (ASF).

The ministry has asked local governments to step up efforts to check and stop illegal vaccines as they gain more popularity amongst desperate pig producers.

The ministry said that its most advanced ASF product was only in the pilot testing phase and still has not been approved for clinical trials.

It therefore considers any product claiming to be a vaccine illegal.