Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg/Rome | Reuters — Canada has raised concerns with Rome about Italy’s plan to require country-of-origin labels on pasta sold there, Canada’s agriculture minister said on Wednesday about a move that is alarming Canadian wheat exporters just as a free trade deal gained European approval. Rome sent a draft decree to the European Commission in […] Read more
Italy’s pasta labeling plan raises Canadian concerns
Potash prices look lower for longer as competition overheats
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — The deepest slump in a decade for the oversupplied potash fertilizer market may abate only slightly in 2017, major producers say, and could take years to correct due to the imminent startup of new mines. PotashCorp, the world’s biggest fertilizer producer, forecast a less profitable year on Thursday than analysts expected, and reported […] Read more
Roquette counts on expanding Canadian pea output
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — France’s Roquette, which is building the world’s largest pea protein plant in Manitoba, is counting on the province’s farmers to boost their production to supply the $400 million factory, the company said Friday. Roquette raised eyebrows this week when it said it would build the plant in Portage la Prairie, Man., […] Read more
Canola acres seen rising on high prices
Reading Time: 2 minutes Brandon | Reuters — Canadian canola plantings may rise slightly in spring as farmers seek to cash in before an expected drop in vegetable oil prices as palm crops recover from drought that hit major Southeast Asian producers, German oilseed analysis firm Oil World said Tuesday. Plantings will rise by less than 10 per cent […] Read more
G3 to proceed with port grain terminal at Vancouver
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada’s G3 Global Holdings will build a grain terminal at Port Metro Vancouver by 2020, increasing the flow of wheat and canola to Asia and Latin America, the company said on Wednesday. The Winnipeg-based partnership of Saudi Arabian agriculture company SALIC and U.S. grain handler Bunge Ltd/ had been considering the […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans stumble on South America’s crop prospects
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — U.S. soybean futures tumbled to a nearly one-month low on Tuesday, as rain in Argentina’s dry crop belts kept South America on track for a bumper harvest. Chicago corn and wheat also ticked lower, under pressure from a stronger U.S. dollar and technical selling. The most active soybean futures contract on the Chicago […] Read more
Canada harvests bigger wheat, canola crops despite snowy fall
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Canada’s wheat and canola crops withstood unfavourable autumn weather, topping Statistics Canada’s previous estimates and last year’s production, according to the government agency’s report on Tuesday. The estimates were met with greater skepticism than usual from traders and analysts, as StatsCan surveyed farmers during unusually snowy, then mild, autumn weather that raised fears […] Read more
Canadian wheat, canola crops seen weathering snow
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada’s wheat and canola crops withstood wintry weather that stalled the autumn harvest, and production topped last year’s output, according to Reuters’ industry survey of 13 analysts and traders. Statistics Canada on Tuesday will issue its final crop production estimates for the 2016-17 marketing year. The industry expects, on average, all-wheat […] Read more
Flower growers turn to weed ahead of legalization
Reading Time: 2 minutes Winnipeg | Reuters — Some Canadian flower growers are turning to weed, with the country’s plan to legalize marijuana for recreational use expected to spur a spike in legal sales of the drug. While medical marijuana is already legal in Canada, the Liberal government said in April it will introduce a law in 2017 to […] Read more
PotashCorp to cut jobs, output as prices sag
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Fertilizer maker PotashCorp said Wednesday it was reducing jobs and output at one Saskatchewan mine and temporarily curtailing production at two others as the sector struggles with weak prices. The company said it would cut production at its Cory potash mine, just west of Saskatoon, to 800,000 million tonnes a year from 1.4 […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
