Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live cattle futures settled narrowly mixed on Monday, with some contracts easing slightly after prices surged to six-month highs following strong sales in cash markets late on Friday, traders said. Front-month October live cattle jumped to a peak of 113.975 cents/lb., highest since March 14, before settling at 113.425 cents, […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Live cattle mixed on profit-taking
Canadian hog prices on rebound
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Improving trade relations and the emergence of swine fever in China have made their presence felt on the Canadian hog market. Weekly signature No. 5 base slaughter weight cash hog prices averaged $117.83 per 100 kg as of Friday, up by roughly $15 over the past two weeks. Those numbers are a […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat rebounds on bargain buying, corn follows
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures jumped three per cent on Friday, rebounding from an eight-week low on a round of technical buying and short-covering ahead of the weekend, traders said. The gains in wheat pulled corn futures slightly higher but expectations for a bumper U.S. harvest stifled rally attempts. Soybeans closed lower on […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat, corn, soy fall as harvest expectations rise
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures eased on Thursday, giving up early gains after U.S. President Donald Trump said the United States was under no pressure to make a trade deal with China, the biggest buyer of the oilseed. Wheat futures, which fell for the seventh time in the last eight […] Read more
ADM ramps up ethanol sales in Chicago, irking rivals
Reading Time: 3 minutes New York/Chicago | Reuters — Archer Daniels Midland has sold unusually high volumes of ethanol into the Chicago market since late last year as export markets dried up, driving down prices in the U.S. Midwest and angering the company’s rivals, according to traders and regulatory data. The Illinois-based global commodities powerhouse, a major ethanol producer, […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn tumbles after USDA boosts production forecast
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago corn futures fell 3.6 per cent on Wednesday, for their biggest daily declines since April, after the U.S. Department of Agriculture raised its forecast for U.S. production more than analysts expected, traders said. Wheat futures also tumbled, tracking losses in corn and on pressure from USDA unexpectedly boosting Russia’s wheat […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs jump on hopes for China trade talks
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures jumped more than two per cent on Wednesday on news that the Trump administration is attempting to restart trade negotiations with China, a major importer which has steep duties on shipments of U.S. pork. Senior U.S. officials led by Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin recently sent an invitation […] Read more
Smaller Manitoba soybean crop expected
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Like most crops grown this year, Manitoba’s soybean yields were also highly variable in 2018. While early reports point to smaller production overall, lower-than-average yields won’t translate to higher prices, given prospects for a large U.S. crop. Manitoba soybean yields are “anywhere from 20 to 50” bushels per acre, said Mark Jorgenson […] Read more
Global fertilizer market prices vary
Reading Time: 3 minutes CNS Canada — A mixed bag for fertilizer prices is expected over the next few months, as some continue to increase while others should drop, according to an analyst. “The fertilizer market has remained pretty firm over the past six months… we had kind of anticipated some declines across all the different nutrients, (but) they’ve […] Read more
U.S. livestock: October hogs limit up on cash prices, swine fever fear
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures surged on Thursday on rising cash hog prices and growing concerns about the spread of African swine fever in China, the world’s top hog and pork producer, traders said. Chicago Mercantile Exchange October futures closed up the daily three-cent-per-pound trading limit, aided by technical buying in the […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
