b'But theres a couple of signs I want to point out that are kind ofWeve rebuilt a substantial amount of our retail inventories interesting. responding to this boom in demand that came out of COVID, To start , Gray says to look at ocean freight rates. While thehe says. We now may have the highest retail inventories weve rates are still quite highparticularly between the U.S. and Chinahad in quite some time. This is an indication that while our supplytheres a trend that the rates are coming down. But not onlychains have a lot of challenges left in front of them, there are are they coming down in that specific region, but globally. Freightsigns that theyre loosening and beginning to correct themselves. rates and ocean freight rates starting to come down suggestsIn agriculture, however, there are still a few challengesbottleneck in freight isnt fixed, but its improving.including a low global stock of wheat.On land, trucking rates are coming down as well. The down- Ukraine matters a lot to global stocks, Gray says. Its the side is, fuel surcharges are going up. lowest its been since 2012, even including Ukraines stock of Thats the difference between the two, and its an importantgrain.thing to keep in mind, he continues. But, its a clear indicationThis will be a challenge in the near future for commoditiesthat overall, trucking rates are coming down. Why? Despite whatbut in the U.S., that might mean high commodity prices could the news tells us, we have ore drivers in our fleet now than we didlikely remain, he continues. The problem, however, comes into before. feeding the globe. Projection-wise, February 2024s corn com-Fuel surcharges, however, are still increasing due to a pricemodity prices are still predicted to be well above $6.50 a bushel.fuel problem. National gas price averages as of July 11 wereThats two years from now, and thats nowhere close to $4.69 according to AAA. However, thats a stark difference thanreverting to the meanwhich suggests that our global situation gas prices a month ago, which were averaging around $5.004for production is going to be tight for a period to come, Gray nationally for regular gas.says. noting that this might not be due to supply chain issues, but And though gas prices are still considered nationally high,other issues such as weather and conflict that prevent the ability Gray says both the lack of truck driver problem and the gas fuelto rebuild stock levels. price problem are beginning to fix themselves. As things continue to rapidly change, make sure you stay In addition, when it comes to inventories, supply chains areahead of the game by paying attention to the economic trends beginning to correct themselves as well.globally.SWPrecision Agriculture LABStarts With The SeedCounting is fast and reliable with visual veri cation. OptiCount provides seed-by-seed size, shape and color analysis giving you count and data output in less than 30 seconds.OPTICOUNT LAB PROVIDES: Con gurations for Soy, Corn, Wheat, Flower/Veg, Others Recipe-based setup for rapid changeover Also available in automatic Integrated bench scale interface OptiCountImage and data archiving OnLineBacklit Count & Measure Data Color PROCESS804-514-9189281-276-3600 I S I O N processvis.com satake-usa.comVS E E D S O L U T I O N S42/ SEEDWORLD.COMSEPTEMBER 2022'