Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. soybean futures fell on Friday on profit-taking but the benchmark Chicago Board of Trade November contract still recorded a fourth straight weekly advance, supported by firm cash markets and export demand. CBOT wheat rose on short-covering and worries about dry conditions in Australia while corn closed modestly higher in rangebound […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans ease but notch fourth weekly gain
Asian taste for western diet boosts Australian wheat
Reading Time: < 1 minute CNS Canada – Vietnam has quietly grown to become Australia’s second largest export destination for wheat. Driving the demand is the iconic banh mi, a Vietnamese baguette-style sandwich filled with pork or chicken and spices. Vietnam imports 1.5 million tonnes of Australian wheat, based on 2016 figures, compared to 380,000 tonnes 10 years ago, said […] Read more
Declining lentil prices should level off, improve
Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — Red lentil growers, who have seen prices cut in half during the past year and a half, may finally be able to find solace in what some analysts call a brighter outlook for the remainder of 2017. “I personally am optimistic that we will see higher prices. Some other people will dispute […] Read more
Beef makes the cut as Australia, China move to boost trade
Reading Time: 2 minutes Sydney | Reuters — Australia and China are expected to sign new bilateral agreements on beef exports, energy and security during a four-day visit by Chinese Premier Li Keqiang that began on Thursday. Li, the first sitting Chinese premier to visit Australia in 11 years, was welcomed to parliament in Canberra by Prime Minister Malcolm […] Read more
Brazil beef scandal leaves fewer options for global buyers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– Global beef buyers will likely need to cobble together supplies from several nations if a scandal persists in Brazil’s meat sector because supply constraints and politics are already limiting trade flows, market analysts said Monday. China suspended imports of all meat products from Brazil, the world’s top beef exporter, as a […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat rises on weather concerns
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade wheat futures rose 1.2 percent on Monday and hit their highest level since mid-February on concerns about dry conditions hampering crop development in the U.S. Plains, traders said. Falling production in Australia and strong export data also lent strength to the wheat market, which closed in positive […] Read more
India considering reinstating wheat import tax
Reading Time: 2 minutes New Delhi | Reuters –– India could impose a 25 per cent import tax on wheat by the middle of March, two government sources said on Wednesday, reinstating the tariff after a gap of nearly three months in response to recent large purchases from overseas. India, the world’s second-biggest wheat producer, lowered the import tax […] Read more
Canada says TPP trade deal dead without U.S.
Reading Time: 2 minutes Calgary | Reuters — The Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) trade deal cannot proceed without the United States, Canada said on Tuesday, even as Australia and New Zealand pledged to salvage it. U.S. President Donald Trump withdrew from the 12-nation TPP on Monday, following through on an election promise days after his inauguration. “This agreement was so […] Read more
Australia, New Zealand pledge to salvage TPP
Reading Time: 2 minutes Reuters — Australia hopes to salvage the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) by encouraging China and other Asian nations into the agreement in the wake of U.S. President Donald Trump’s decision to pull his country out of the pact, its trade minister said on Tuesday. New Zealand’s trade minister said ministers from the remaining TPP countries would […] Read more
Australia approves sale of giant Kidman pastoral holdings
Reading Time: < 1 minute Sydney | Reuters –– Australia on Friday approved the A$386.5 million (C$379.3 million) sale of the country’s largest private landholder S. Kidman and Co. to a consortium led by the country’s richest woman Gina Rinehart, after blocking two previous bids. Rinehart and her minority partner, Chinese developer Shanghai CRED, will now complete the purchase of […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
