The Reserve Bank of India (RBI) is planning to launch its first central bank digital currency (CBDC) trials by the end of this year, Being an emerging market, India is one of the fastest-growing crypto destinations in the world. The adoption of cryptocurrency assets has increased rapidly in India during the last 12 months.

https://www.financemagnates.com/cryptocurrency/news/india-plans-to-launch-cbdc-pilot-by-december-2021/

Russia’s gold and foreign currency holdings grew by another $1.8 billion in the week through August 20. Forex reserves totaled $595.6 billion compared to $593.8 billion a week earlier. Russia’s international reserves are highly liquid foreign assets consisting of monetary gold, foreign currencies and Special Drawing Rights, which are at the disposal of the Central Bank of Russia and the government.

https://www.rt.com/business/533144-russia-foreign-currency-reserves/

Belarus has imposed a six-month grain export ban because of a poor, weather-hit harvest, the government said on Thursday. The country has completed the 2021 harvest, threshing 6.2 million tonnes of grain compared with 7.2 million tonnes in 2020. The government resolution said the ban applies to wheat, rye, corn and other types of grain and cereals.

https://www.hellenicshippingnews.com/belarus-suspends-grain-exports-after-poor-harvest/

North American fertilizer prices are nearing a decade high this week. The fertilizer industry is experiencing supply-side constraints while demand is rising. https://www.zerohedge.com/commodities/fertilizer-prices-hit-near-decade-high-farm-demand-increases

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has shortlisted 15 “Global CBDC Challenge” participants to help build an in-house retail central bank digital currency (CBDC). https://www.investing.com/news/cryptocurrency-news/singapore-central-bank-shortlists-15-companies-to-develop-retail-cbdc-2604122

Statistics Canada in this season’s first crop production report issued Aug. 30 forecast Canadian wheat production at a 14-year low, canola outturn at a nine-year low and most other crops also down sharply due to drought and hot weather across major growing areas. https://www.foodbusinessnews.net/articles/19470-drought-takes-toll-on-canadian-crops

Australia, Malaysia, Singapore and South Africa unveiled a joint central bank digital payment pilot on Thursday.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/other/australia-malaysia-singapore-and-south-africa-will-trial-cross-border-central-bank-digital-payments/ar-AAO1byS?pfr=1

Brazilian soybean farmers are keeping their crops instead of selling them because they expect prices to rise further as global supplies tighten.
https://www.thepigsite.com/news/2021/09/brazils-soy-farmers-are-hoarding-their-crops-in-hopes-that-prices-will-rise

One of the hardest hit crops is tall fescue, a type of grass seed, causing concern about a possible worldwide grass seed shortage.
https://www.kezi.com/content/news/Extreme-drought-could-cause-worldwide-grass-seed-shortage-575238391.html

New Zealand's third largest internet provider Vocus NZ said on Friday its response to a cyberattack temporary triggered a widespread internet outage. The company said its systems blocked a denial of service (DDoS) attack on one user but in doing so caused some Vocus customers in the country's largest cities - Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch - to suffer outages.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/technology/vocus-says-its-response-to-a-cyberattack-temporarily-triggered-nz-internet-outages/ar-AAO2Rtv?pfr=1

Gazprom Neft, the oil arm of Russian gas giant Gazprom (GAZP.MM), has started to move away from the U.S. dollar to China's yuan in settlements for fuelling planes in China.
https://www.reuters.com/business/energy/russias-gazprom-neft-moves-yuan-fuelling-planes-china-2021-09-03/

Benoit Coeure, head of the BIS Innovation Hub, urged central banks to speed up their work on digital cash. He said they must up the pace because "stablecoins and crypto assets are already here". https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/central-banks-must-roll-up-their-sleeves-and-urgently-speed-up-their-work-on-their-own-digital-currencies-before-crypto-upends-the-current-financial-system-the-bis-says/ar-AAOikVw?pfr=1

Eurostar Commodities said that prices for the 2021 durum wheat harvest have almost doubled on last year. The crisis has been triggered by a worsening situation in major durum wheat producer Canada, where the crop forecast has been revised down by more than one-third from five million tonnes to only 3.4 million tonnes. https://www.talkingretail.com/news/industry-news/pasta-supplies-under-threat-after-poor-durum-wheat-harvest-10-09-2021/

UK - Food and Drink Federation chief Ian Wright said the country won't run out of food, but the days of shoppers knowing they can get whatever they like at the supermarket are gone forever https://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/breaking-britain-now-see-permanent-24953533.amp?__twitter_impression=true

Factory-gate price inflation in China remained high in August, rising to the highest level in 13 years. "Industrial product price hikes also accelerated both compared with last month and last year in August, affected by rising prices of products such as coal, chemicals and steel." https://www.msn.com/en-xl/money/topstories/chinas-commodity-prices-push-factory-gate-inflation-to-rise-at-fastest-pace-in-13-years/ar-AAOeWu2

Russian internet giant Yandex has been hit by a cyber attack that the Vedomosti daily reported was largest DDoS attack in the history of the Russian segment of the internet. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/russian-internet-firm-yandex-hit-by-major-cyber-attack-report-2021-09-08

The personal data of visa applicants hoping to visit or emigrate to France has been exposed in a cyber-attack targeting the French government’s ‘France-Visas’ website. https://portswigger.net/daily-swig/french-government-visa-website-hit-by-cyber-attack-that-exposed-applicants-personal-data

Boris Johnson is set to delay the introduction of some post-Brexit checks on EU imports amid fears they could cause food shortages over the Christmas period, it was claimed today. The UK is supposed to be introducing a fresh wave of checks and requirements on imports of animal origin and certain foods from next month. But the roll-out could now be pushed back by six months in what would be the second time the checks have been delayed. https://www.msn.com/en-gb/money/other/boris-johnson-will-delay-imposing-checks-on-eu-imports-to-uk/ar-AAOoJPX?pfr=1

The sale of farmers' 2021 second corn crop in Brazil reached 70.1% of the estimated output, up from 62.6% at this time last year, Corn, used as livestock feed, is on high demand in Brazil, home to some of the world's largest pork and poultry processors. This year, planting delays followed by a drought and an ill-timed frost slashed Brazil's overall corn output, raising internal prices, increasing the need to import and reducing Brazil's export prospects. https://www.nasdaq.com/articles/brazil-farmers-sell-more-of-their-2021-second-corn-crop-as-demand-rises-safras-2021-09-13

South Africa’s recently announced trial of central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) for cross-border payments could motivate other financial institutions around the world to work towards using the technology. The initiative, dubbed Project Dunbar, will develop platforms for cross-border transactions using CBDCs, enabling financial institutions to transact directly with each other in the digital currencies issued by central banks, and eliminating the need for intermediaries, as well as reducing the time and cost of transactions. https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/south-africa-is-testing-central-bank-digital-currencies/ar-AAOomUh?pfr=1

Plant-based protein manufacturers, like Beyond Meat and Impossible Foods, view chicken supply chain shortages throughout the U.S. as an opportunity. The two companies both recently introduced plant-based chicken nugget substitutes into retail and foodservice. The timing may seem coincidental, but Beyond Meat told CNBC that the new chicken tenders will reach menus at the same time that restaurants experienced both shortages and price hikes for poultry products. https://www.wattagnet.com/blogs/51-poultry-tech-trends/post/43567-meat-alternatives-seize-opening-left-by-chicken-shortages