Omnibus now likely to carry 199A fix
The pending omnibus spending package to be released soon and voted on will include a fix for a provision in last year’s tax reform law that created inequities among agricultural businesses. Senate Majority Whip John Cornyn (R-Texas) said the measure will not include any plan to address the future of the undocumented immigrants covered by the Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program. Democratic leaders appear to be at odds about including 199A language in the omnibus plan. Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said earlier this week that he doesn’t want the inclusion until Republicans agree to include some additional tax reform measures favored by his party. However, House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) signaled willingness to work to remedy the grain glitch.

Bayer, Monsanto merger stalled
Justice Department antitrust officials believe Bayer and Monsanto’s proposed deal could hurt competition in agriculture, and do not think Bayer’s proposal to sell off assets is enough to counter that problem, according to Bloomberg News. The Department of Justice’s review of the $66 billion merger is expected to last several more months.

China gives Bayer acquisition of Monsanto green light
China’s commerce ministry has conditionally approved the German drug and crop chemical maker Bayer’s acquisition of Monsanto Co., the world’s top seed company. The conditions of the approval included requirements for Bayer to spin off some of its businesses globally.

U.S. reaches regionalization agreement with South Korea
The agreement reached between U.S. and South Korea would set in place a regionalization system that would allow trade restrictions at the state level should the U.S. detect HPAI in the future. That would temper the trade impacts in the event of another U.S. HPAI find.

Drought weighs on Argentina’s economy
Argentina’s economy will likely expand 0.5 percent to 1 percent in the first quarter of 2018 versus the previous quarter and rise 3 percent from year-ago levels, according to a Treasury Ministry official. Four months of drought conditions have lowered corn and soybean crop estimates for the country, likely cutting between 0.5 and one point off the country’s headline growth rate for 2018, the official details. Growth of 3 percent is still better than year-ago when Argentina’s economy climbed 2.8 percent, but the figure is under the 3 percent growth rate the government used in its budget.

Demand for cotton in China fades
China’s daily cotton auctions kicked off with nearly all of the 30,000 MT of cotton offered from China’s reserves being sold. Each day since, that tally dropped. By weeks end the auction saw 19,200 MT of cotton, or 64 percent of the offering, sell at an average price of 14,233 yuan ($2,253.13) per MT.

U.S. challenges Indian at WTO
The U.S. has launched a World Trade Organization challenge against India over export subsidies, arguing the programs give Indian companies an unfair advantage. The case is the first one the Trump administration has launched under the WTO’s dispute settlement process. Lighthizer announced the initiation of the dispute just two days after swearing in Dennis Shea to serve as U.S. ambassador to the WTO in Geneva.

Settlement in Syngenta suit
A $1.5-billion settlement was reached in a class-action lawsuit against Syngenta over its introduction of a genetically engineered corn seed. Payments will be made to U.S. corn farmers, grain handling facilities and ethanol plants. Lawsuits in state and federal courts challenged Syngenta’s decision to introduce its modified Viptera and Duracade corn seed strains to the U.S. market for the 2011 growing season before having approval for import by China in 2014. The plaintiffs said Syngenta’s decision cut off access to the large Chinese corn market and caused price drops for several years. The settlement must be approved by a federal judge in Kansas. It will create a fund to pay claims by farmers and others who contracted to price corn or corn byproducts after Sept. 15, 2013, including farmers who opted out of previous Syngenta lawsuits. If approved, money could be distributed to class members in the first half of 2019. This is believed to be the largest agricultural litigation settlement in U.S. history.

El Nino could be coming
India’s monsoon rains will likely be a bit lighter than normal this year as an El Nino weather pattern may develop during the second half of 2018, Kyle Tapley, senior ag meteorologist at Radiant Solutions, told Reuters. This could also result in drier weather for Australia’s eastern grain belt according to Tapley. Historically, El Nino weather patterns are associated with dry weather in areas of Asia and above-normal rains for South America.