(Bruce Fritz photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Sunflowers down, but not out in Western Canada

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Canadian sunflower plantings will be down in 2017, but perhaps not by as much as the official government estimate. Statistics Canada forecast the country’s sunflower area at only 50,000 acres in its planting intentions report. That would be down from 70,000 the previous year and the second-lowest acreage base of the past […] Read more

Brown mustard. (Peggy Greb photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

Mustard acres feeling squeeze from canola

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada –– Following the largest mustard crop in more than a decade in 2016, supply/demand fundamentals are expected to spur a reduction in Canadian mustard seedings in 2017. However, with more and more cropland moving into canola, mustard acreage increases may be limited in future years when supplies are tight again. After growing the […] Read more





(Dave Bedard photo)

ICE weekly outlook: Rising canola watching weather

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada –– ICE Futures Canada canola contracts moved higher during the week ended Wednesday, as weather concerns mounted across the Canadian Prairies. While it’s still early in the Canadian planting season, persistent cool and wet conditions in many areas could lead to delays, said Mike Jubinville of ProFarmer Canada. Uncertainty over how much canola […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Trade sees record Canadian canola acres as possibility

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Canadian farmers could be set to seed record-large canola acres in 2017, while wheat area is generally expected to be down on the year when Statistics Canada releases its first survey-based acreage estimates of the year on Friday. From a purely economic standpoint, “canola is historically the commodity that pays the bills,” […] Read more


CBOT weekly outlook: Soybeans, corn watching weather

Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Soybean futures at the Chicago Board of Trade fell to their lowest levels of the past year on Tuesday, but bounced off of those lows as new-crop uncertainty and chart-based buying provided support. The U.S. Department of Agriculture forecast larger-than-expected world and U.S. soybean ending stocks in its monthly supply/demand report, which […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

ICE weekly outlook: Steady canola awaits acreage data

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — ICE Futures Canada canola contracts fell to their lowest levels in six months during the week ended Wednesday, but uncovered support to the downside and may be entering a period of consolidation. “On canola, we’re seeing a stabilization period after a sharp downward move,” said Jerry Klassen, manager of Canadian operations with […] Read more


A two-row Bentley base malt. (RedShedMalting.ca)

Growing craft beer sector thirsty for local malt

Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — Craft breweries are a growing subsector of the Canadian beer industry, but the increased variety of local drink options are not necessarily 100 per cent homegrown, as a lack of domestically produced specialty malts forces brewers to look far afield to meet their needs. “We get our base malt locally, but we […] Read more

(PortSeattle.org)

Baltic Dry Index hits two-year highs

Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Ocean freight rates are trending higher, with the Baltic Dry Index (BDI) hitting its highest level of the past two years on Tuesday. The BDI, compiled daily by the London-based Baltic Exchange, provides an assessment of the price of moving major raw materials by sea, including grain. It was quoted Tuesday at […] Read more