Reading Time: 3 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. farmers cheered the Trump administration’s announcement of a potentially dramatic increase in U.S. agricultural sales to China on Friday but warned they needed to see a follow-through of actual purchases. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said the agricultural purchases could scale up to $40 billion-$50 billion annually as part of a […] Read more
U.S. farmers cheered by apparent trade truce
U.S. grains: Corn jumps four per cent
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures surged more than four per cent on Friday while wheat and soybeans also firmed, buoyed by expectations for a partial U.S.-China trade deal and worries about wintry weather threatening crops in the Midwest, analysts said. Chicago Board of Trade December corn settled up 17-1/2 cents at $3.97-3/4 a […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures up on trade progress, firm cash
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures rose more than one per cent on Friday, following broad strength in commodities tied to hopes for a U.S.-China trade deal, along with firm cash values for hogs and pork, analysts said. Chicago Mercantile Exchange benchmark December lean hog futures settled up 1.125 cents at 69.6 cents/lb. […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs slip despite record-large pork sales to China
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures sagged on Thursday as the confirmation of record-large weekly pork export sales to China failed to impress traders who have been expecting a surge in demand for months. Uncertainty about when the pork will be shipped to China also kept a lid on gains, traders said. The […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs rise on China trade optimism
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures closed higher on Wednesday for a second straight session on hopes that U.S. trade talks with China, at a time of surging Chinese pork prices, could bolster U.S. pork exports, traders said. CME December lean hog futures settled up 2.075 cents at 69.475 cents/lb., just […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans up on trade optimism, Midwest weather
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures climbed to their highest level in nearly three months on Wednesday before paring gains, supported by optimism about increased Chinese purchases and fears that a winter storm in the upper U.S. Midwest could threaten late-maturing crops. Corn closed modestly lower and wheat was little changed, with both commodities […] Read more
Allegations of U.S. peas, lentils passed off as Canadian
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — A company in the United States has alleged there are green peas and green lentils being shipped from the U.S. to Canada, then exported to China and India as being Canadian. Jeff Van Pevenage, president of Columbia Grain at Portland, Ore., first made the allegations to the Western Producer in September. He said […] Read more
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
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 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
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
