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

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs recover on bargain buying, trade hopes

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures rallied on Tuesday in a technical and bargain-buying rebound from one-month lows amid hopes that China would step up U.S. pork imports as the country’s domestic pork prices have soared. The hog herd in China, the world’s largest pork market, has been decimated by African […] Read more

File photo of wheat storage for a flour mill at Yokohama, Japan. (Joel-t/iStock/Getty Images)

Japan trade deal aims to put U.S. farmers on par with TPP

Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — The new U.S.-Japan trade deal will provide staged reduction of Japanese tariffs for more than US$2 billion worth of U.S. beef and pork, matching access now granted to the 11 Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact countries, a text of the agreement shows. U.S. President Donald Trump presided over a White House signing […] Read more


Iraqi men carry a coffin of a demonstrator, who was killed during anti-government protests, to bury at the cemetery in Najaf, Iraq on Oct. 7, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Alaa al-Marjani)

Iraq replaces state grain agency’s chief

Reading Time: < 1 minute Baghdad/Dubai | Reuters — Iraq, a major Middle East wheat and rice importer, has replaced the head of its state grain buying agency, government sources and a document showed on Tuesday. Naeem al-Maksousi was replaced by Hassanein Mahdi Elwan, a document reviewed by Reuters showed. The reason for the replacement, which comes after a week […] Read more

The Chicago Board of Trade building on May 28, 2018. (Harmantasdc/iStock Editorial/Getty Images)

U.S. grains: Corn firm ahead of USDA report, frosty weather

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures inched higher on Monday on position-squaring ahead of a key monthly U.S. government crop report later this week and worries about forecasts for a freeze looming for the northwestern Corn Belt, traders said. Soybeans and wheat closed lower after a choppy session. Chicago Board of Trade December corn […] Read more


(Gloria Solano-Aguilar photo courtesy ARS/USDA)

U.S. livestock: CME hogs limit down on U.S.-China trade jitters

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures fell their daily limit on Monday, declining for a fifth straight session as an aggressive slaughter pace and uncertainty about this week’s U.S. trade talks with China overshadowed rising pork cut-out values, traders said. The selloff came as U.S. and Chinese deputy trade negotiators launched a […] Read more

Louis Dreyfus’ oilseed processing plant at Yorkton, Sask. (LDC.com)

Louis Dreyfus expects tough year on trade war, swine fever

Reading Time: 2 minutes Paris | Reuters — Agricultural commodity giant Louis Dreyfus warned on Monday that international trade tensions and a swine disease epidemic would continue to weigh on its activities in the rest of the year after pushing down first-half profit. The interim results reversed a rebound in group profits in the second half of last year […] Read more


(UCCS.ucdavis.edu)

U.S. meat industry sues California for animal protection ‘overreach’

Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — California was sued on Friday by the largest U.S. trade group for meat packers and processors, which wants to block enforcement of a voter-approved measure requiring farmers to provide more space for animals being raised for food. The North American Meat Institute, whose members include processors such as Tyson Foods and retailers including […] Read more

The Andersons’ ethanol plant at Denison, Iowa. (AndersonsEthanol.com)

Trump’s EPA promises biofuel boost, angers Big Oil

Reading Time: 3 minutes Washington/New York | Reuters — The Trump administration on Friday unveiled a plan to boost U.S. biofuels consumption starting next year to help struggling farmers, a move that cheered the agriculture industry but triggered a backlash from Big Oil. The plan would require an unspecified increase in the amount of ethanol that oil refiners must […] Read more


U.S. grains: Corn falls; wheat, soy rise

U.S. grains: Corn falls; wheat, soy rise

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures dropped on Friday while soybeans and wheat edged higher in muted trading as investors waited for the U.S. government’s monthly update to harvest projections. Corn futures remained under pressure from profit-taking after prices jumped to a seven-week high on Tuesday. The market shrugged off long-awaited news that the […] Read more

(JBSS.infoinvest.com.br)

JBS USA to produce pork without ractopamine

Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — JBS USA will remove a growth drug banned by Beijing from its U.S. hog supply, the company said on Friday, accelerating the competition for pork exports as China grapples with a devastating pig disease. The meat packer’s move away from the drug ractopamine, a feed additive, shows how companies are maneuvering […] Read more