Cargill sells hog nutrition products in China under the Purina brand. (Video screengrab from Cargill.com via YouTube)

Cargill shuts China feed mills as swine fever spreads

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Cargill shuttered animal-feed mills in China in recent months partly because the rapid spread of a fatal hog disease has reduced demand, a company executive said Friday. The closures highlight the pain for global agriculture companies from the outbreak of African swine fever in China, the world’s top hog producer and […] Read more

CME October 2019 lean hogs with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME hogs book biggest one-week climb since April

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures closed higher on Friday and the most-active August contract recorded its biggest weekly gain since April, supported by expectations of thinning U.S. hog supplies, traders said. A glut of hogs has hung over the futures market for months, but traders see supplies starting to […] Read more


CME August 2019 lean hogs with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Lean hogs end lower

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures fell about three per cent on Thursday on sluggish cash markets, traders said, retreating after a two-session surge that lifted the August contract to a near-three-week high a day earlier. CME August lean hogs settled down 2.55 cents at 79.175 cents/lb., one day after […] Read more



F. Menard’s retail butcher shop at Ange-Gardien underwent a major renovation in July 2018. (FMenard.com)

Olymel, Sollio to take up F. Menard pork, feed businesses

Reading Time: 2 minutes The meat packing and ag input retail arms of Quebec’s La Coop federee are about to take a much longer reach in their home province. The agrifood co-operative announced Tuesday its Olymel and Sollio Agriculture businesses have an agreement in place to buy the hog breeding, pork slaughter and packing, grain sourcing and feed milling […] Read more

CME August 2019 lean hogs with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hogs limit up on firming cash pork, China hopes

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures roared higher on Tuesday, with the most-active August and October contracts settling up by the daily three-cent-per pound limit on a mix of technical buying, firmer cash pork values and optimism about U.S. trade talks with China, traders said. CME’s most-active August lean hogs […] Read more


CME July 2019 lean hogs with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs down on ample supplies

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures closed lower on Monday for a third straight session as plentiful U.S. hog and pork supplies continued to weigh on the market, analysts said. CME’s most-active August lean hogs contract ended down 0.975 cent at 76.075 cents/lb. after dipping to 75.575 cents, its lowest […] Read more

(Gloria Solano-Aguilar photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

PigTrace tag price going up

Reading Time: 2 minutes Hog producers will have to pay more for traceability in the near future. Canada’s PigTrace program will be raising ear tag prices as of Aug. 1. Prices will go up 20 cents for every small ear tag and 35 cents for every large ear tag, a release from the Manitoba Pork Council said. The Manitoba […] Read more


A macrophage (immune response) cell in early stages of infection with African swine fever virus, magnified about 1,000x. (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Canada, EU agree to swine fever zoning rules

Reading Time: 2 minutes Canada and Europe have agreed to new zoning arrangements in a case of African swine fever outbreak, but it’s not clear what will actually change. The agreement, which Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau announced Wednesday. would allow for safe trade of swine products from disease-free zones if a case of ASF is found. Zoning principles applying […] Read more

A macrophage (immune response) cell in early stages of infection with African swine fever virus, magnified about 1,000x. (Keith Weller photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

China’s cabinet sees ‘shortcomings’ in bid to contain swine fever

Reading Time: < 1 minute Beijing | Reuters — China has shown shortcomings in some aspects of preventing African swine fever, and the situation remains complicated and severe, the country’s cabinet said Wednesday. The management of transporting live hogs is not strict enough, while there is insufficient capacity in testing for African swine fever virus in hog slaughtering, processing and […] Read more