The Biannual Food Outlook published by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO) gives guidance for what to expect from key markets for agricultural products for the rest of 2025.

The report makes optimistic reading for the beef market while pointing to more difficulties ahead for the tillage sector. We covered the continued expansion of milk production here.

A further contraction of global supply of beef is forecast for this year. The FAO says slaughter rates are expected to be constrained by reduced cattle inventories due to herd contractions globally and ongoing retention for herd rebuilding in Brazil and the United States following elevated slaughter levels in recent years. The report said that it expects strong import demand, particularly from the United States as that country tries to make up for a lack of domestic supply.

It did, however, warn that the implementation of trade-restrictive measures and the continued spread of animal diseases could disrupt trade flows. It also warned that elevated prices might dampen demand in some markets, encouraging a shift towards more affordable meat alternatives such as poultry where a further production expansion is forecast for this year.

On cereals, the FAO said that global production is expected to expand by 2.1% in 2025, hitting another record high after the abundant supplies in 2024. It said the largest year-on-year increases will be seen in maize and wheat. This means that cereal production is expected to exceed utilisation in 2025/26 and that global stocks are forecast to expand by 8.4mt to 873.6mt.

The report said that rapeseed production decreased by 5.4% in 2024/25, but this was driven by smaller harvest in the European Union caused by “relatively unattractive prices”. Production of rapeseed in China reached an all-time high while India harvested a near-record crop. World soybean production is forecast to expand by 6.1% to 422.5mt.

The potential oversupply in global cereals is further good news for the beef sector as it means that feed prices will likely remain suppressed over the forecast horizon.