This year has been eventful in many ways for most agricultural commodities; beyond the usual supply and demand factors shaping markets there has been an increasing level of uncertainty stemming from unexpected shifts in trade policies. Among the AMIS crops, maize and soybeans have been at the forefront of these policy changes, while global wheat and rice markets have been little affected. The other important feature, also central to the work of AMIS, is the recent revelation of drastically higher cereal production levels in China with potentially important implications, which is the main focus of this month’s editorial.