The continued spread of African Swine Fever is having an impact on China’s soybean and soybean meal imports. The USDA’s Foreign Ag Service says soybean imports during the 2017/18 marketing year 94.095 million tons, but are expected to fall below 90 million this and next marketing year, 84 million for 2018/19 and 83 million for 2019/20, because of ASF, with soybean meal imports and use also declining as feed demand drops. (Brownfield)

With a headline number of 224,000 new jobs, the June jobs report could not have hit the sweet spot any better. Had it come in over 250,000, market anticipation of future Federal Reserve interest rate increases could have pulled hundreds off the Dow Jones Index. Had it come in under 150,000, fears of a slowdown would be in discussion. But 224,000 is just about right to maintain people’s confidence in a fairly robust economy, especially when combining that number with the 3.1 percent annual rate of increase in average hourly earnings. (Farm Bureau)

Top American and China negotiators are set to speak this week in an effort to revive stalled trade talks. President Trump and Chinese President Xi Jinping agreed at the G20 Summit to formally resume talks. Yet people following the process say that the issues that snagged talks two months ago remain. Among the sore spots: U.S. demands for China to buy more American agricultural and industrial products and to enforce protection of intellectual property and China’s insistence that the U.S. remove tariffs on $250 billion in Chinese goods. (The Wall Street Journal)

U.S. representatives have joined the Illinois Farm Bureau in urging the USDA Risk Management Agency (RMA) to delay the crop insurance premium due date to help farmers manage financials this fall. A formal letter signed by 14 of 18 Illinois congressional representatives asks RMA Administrator Martin Barbre to delay the deadline for paying crop insurance premiums for spring-planted crops from Oct. 1 to at least Dec. 1. The letter cites this year’s significant planting delays, expected production losses and the anticipated late harvest that will strain cash flow for Illinois farmers. (FarmWeekNow)

USDA is updating its biotech rules for the first time in more than 30 years. Undersecretary Greg Ibach says the SECURE Plant Innovation Rule could allow for shorter approvals on some products. “We think it strikes a great balance between efficiency as well as ensuring that consumers can feel that we have a secure and appropriate regulatory oversight mechanism in place.” The proposed rule is currently open for public comment. (Brownfield)

U.S. corn and soybean development remains slower than average. Both crops got off to a slow start this year because of widespread planting delays and there is a lot of uncertainty about actual planted area. The USDA currently resurveying producers in 14 states with the results out in August. As of Sunday, 98 percent of corn has emerged and 8 percent is silking, compared to the five-year average of 22 percent, with 57 percent of the crop rated good to excellent, up 1 percent on the week. (Brownfield)