This third edition of the Atlas of Food introduces a new section on sugar, one of the world’s most widely traded commodities.

Governments are balancing food security, farmer support, public health goals, trade protections and biofuel ambitions, placing sugar under intensified policy scrutiny.

We have also updated the price histories and drivers of key staples and proteins, including rice, wheat, chicken and seafood. Weather variability, input costs, trade policies, currency movements and shifting demand patterns are making these markets more complex.

The Atlas of Food shows the changes to key trade flows, such as Ukraine’s supply of corn to China. It also represents the crop cycle in each month for the key producers, illustrating, for example, why traders pay such close attention to Brazil’s weather in April and May.

Demand for corn and soybeans has accelerated in response to the rising per capita consumption of proteins. People typically spend more on pork, beef, chicken and seafood as they become more prosperous. The feed conversion ratio for swine and cattle is higher than two – meaning that many pork producers need to give a pig at least 2 kg of feed to produce 1 kg of meat. Among proteins, aquaculture makes the most efficient use of feed inputs, with just 1.5 kg of feed producing 1 kg of shrimp   
   
Many of Platts’ price assessments capture flows from Brazil. The country’s GMO adoption and double-cropping system are behind much of the growth in that flow.