US government goes back to work, agriculture data restored

The US government has got back to work after a funding deal was agreed in congress to end – at least temporarily – a legislative stalemate.

The shutdown was declared late on Friday, after senators could not agree on a funding extension, and threatened to take offline a significant portion of agriculture data services provided by agen-cies such as the USDA or EIA.

However, while the resolution has enabled work to continue, the funding is only guaranteed until February 8, with some commentators already expecting further shutdowns in the future.

Any prolonged shutdown could see key data releases, such as the monthly World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates or EIA ethanol production data disrupted, with both reports considered important for those trading corn, wheat, and soybean markets.