Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Canadian meat processor Maple Leaf Foods reported a better-than-expected quarterly profit, helped by higher earnings in its prepared meats business. Adjusted operating earnings in the meat products segment rose nearly eight-fold to $61.3 million in the Toronto company’s first quarter, helped by lower operating costs and price increases. The company, whose brands include […] Read more
Maple Leaf dishes up first-quarter profit
West’s hog farmers urged to insist trailers cleaned in Canada
Reading Time: 2 minutes Hog industry officials in Western Canada want hog producers to insist that livestock trailers coming to their farms be washed at certified Canadian cleaning facilities — even if the trailers were just cleaned on the U.S. side of the border. The recommendation comes as a federally-approved trailer-wash pilot project, credited with helping to keep porcine epidemic diarrhea […] Read more
Pork prices gain on seasonal demand, tighter numbers
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada — Western Canadian cash hog prices have been trending higher as supplies tighten and demand increases moving into the summer, two Prairie analysts say. “A lot of that has to do with lower slaughter numbers, higher pork cutout values,” said Brad Marceniuk, a livestock economist with the Saskatchewan government in Saskatoon. Hog numbers […] Read more
Russian farming firm to test investor appetite
Reading Time: 2 minutes Moscow | Reuters — Russian farming conglomerate Rusagro launched a secondary share offering on Thursday which will test foreign appetite for Russian assets. Share sales by Russian companies have been rare since Western sanctions imposed in 2014 over Ukraine cut access to foreign capital markets and after a sharp drop in global oil prices, the […] Read more
U.S. to revoke pig drug approval over cancer risk concern
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — The U.S. Food and Drug Administration on Friday moved to revoke approval of a drug used to treat certain conditions in pigs because it could leave a cancerous residue that may affect human health. The drug, carbadox, is made by Teaneck, N.J.-based Phibro Animal Health and is used to control swine dysentery and […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures jump on fund buying, USDA report
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures closed higher on Monday, driven by short-covering and fund buying after contracts broke through technical resistance levels, traders said. They said last Friday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture quarterly hog report stirred additional deferred-month buying. The survey showed modest U.S. herd growth during the December-February quarter […] Read more
U.S. hog herd ekes out new high as PED impact ebbs
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — The U.S. hog herd in the December-February quarter modestly grew from a year earlier to a record high for that quarter, according to Friday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture quarterly hog report. Farmers cautiously added to herds while shoring up their bottom lines following the surge in hog numbers as the industry recovers from […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME live cattle snaps back in anticipation of cash prices
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago/Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts rose on Friday, paring recent losses as investors pulled futures closer in line with expectations for cash prices later on Friday, traders said. April closed 0.900 cent per lb higher at 136.350 cents, and June ended up 0.850 cent to 126.475. “We’re just playing catch up to […] Read more
Maple Leaf profit beats as margins improve
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Canadian pork processor Maple Leaf Foods posted a better-than-expected fourth-quarter profit as margins in its prepared meats business improved. Adjusted operating profit in the meat products group, which includes brands such as Schneiders and the company’s namesake Maple Leaf brand, was $54.6 million, compared with a year-ago loss of $19.1 million. The Mississauga-based […] Read more
Coop Federee to offer Olymel stake
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Quebec-based La Coop Federee, one of Canada’s biggest farmer co-operatives, is offering for sale up to 49 per cent of pork processor Olymel, to help fund expansion in Western Canada, CEO Gaetan Desroches said in an interview. La Co-op would retain control of Olymel, which along with Maple Leaf Foods is one of […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
