Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures closed mostly lower on Friday after a wild session that saw the May soybean contract tumble to its lowest in over a month on worries about trade tensions, only to pare losses and briefly turn higher in late moves as soymeal soared. Corn closed modestly higher after notching […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans end lower in volatile session
U.S. livestock: CME hogs slump again on cash prices, trade war threat
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hogs fell on Friday for a second straight day, hit by recent cash hog price weakness and mounting worries about a potential trade war between the U.S. and China, traders said. Beijing said Friday it was considering imposing an additional tariff on U.S. products including an extra […] Read more
Hemp acres, prices down for 2018
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — With a large carryover from last year’s crop, hemp acres in Canada are expected to be down this year along with the price. “We had a bit of overproduction in 2017. It doesn’t take much to overproduce a crop when you’ve got 100,000 acres. So it’s a delicate, delicate balance,” said Russ […] Read more
Prairie malt barley prices lower than feed
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — With feed barley in tight supply, the tables have flipped with feed prices now sitting higher than those for malt barley in Western Canada. Feed barley prices “make some of these other prices look a bit ridiculous. There’s no demand from the domestic maltsters because they’ve all been plugged up ever since […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soy tumbles on acreage outlook
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures tumbled on Wednesday, pressured by technical selling and outlooks for record-large U.S. plantings this year, traders and analysts said. Chicago Board of Trade May soybean futures dropped 16-1/2 cents, or 1.7 per cent, to $10.32-1/4 per bushel (all figures US$). Prices accelerated declines at late-morning after advisory service […] Read more
China conditionally approves Bayer’s Monsanto deal
Reading Time: < 1 minute Beijing | Reuters — Bayer on Tuesday secured conditional approval from China’s commerce ministry for its planned acquisition of the world No. 1 seed company Monsanto, chalking up a victory in an onerous struggle to win over watchdogs across the globe. The ministry also ordered the German drug and crop chemicals maker to spin off […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat, corn, soy turn higher on technical buying
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. grain and soy futures notched modest gains on Monday, with prices turning higher on technical buying after earlier lows, traders said. Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures recovered from a three-week low and CBOT wheat from a 1-1/2 week low. CBOT May soybeans settled up 1-3/4 cents at $10.41 per […] Read more
Argentina’s soybean season ‘dead’
Reading Time: 3 minutes Buenos Aires | Reuters — Hope has withered for any recovery in Argentine soy yields hit by a four-month drought that shows no signs of abating, farmers and analysts said Monday, prompting China to step in to fill the gap in soymeal exports from the world’s No. 1 supplier. The dryness that has blighted the […] Read more
China says U.S. soybeans ‘prime target’ over tariffs
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters –– Chinese officials have said U.S. soybeans are a prime target for retaliation against tariffs imposed by the Trump administration on steel and aluminum imports, according to the American Soybean Association. Farm groups have long feared that China, which imports more than a third of all U.S. soybeans, could slow their purchases […] Read more
Pulse weekly outlook: Alberta pea area tries to hang on
Reading Time: 2 minutes CNS Canada — Despite a drop in spot prices due to tariffs imposed by India on peas, one industry expert says she isn’t convinced that means acreage will drastically be reduced in Alberta this spring. “I think we’ll see a little bit of a drop, but I don’t think it will be as impactful as […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
