Reading Time: 2 minutes Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil is expected to introduce a tariff-free wheat import quota of 750,000 tonnes per year starting from 2020, the president of the country’s wheat industry group Abitrigo, Rubens Barbosa, said on Tuesday. Brazil announced the opening of the tariff-free wheat import quota earlier this year in connection with President Jair […] Read more
Brazil expected to introduce tariff-free wheat import quota from 2020
U.S. grains: Corn, soy set one-week highs on weather concerns
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures touched one-week highs on Thursday as traders worried about the risk of frost damage to this year’s late planted U.S. crops, analysts said. Traders were also covering short positions after recent declines and ahead of the three-day Labour Day weekend. They remain nervous about the potential […] Read more
Trump promises ethanol-related ‘giant package’ to please farmers
Reading Time: 3 minutes Washington/South Sioux City | Reuters — President Donald Trump said on Thursday his administration is planning a “giant package” related to ethanol that would please U.S. farmers angry that many more oil refiners have been freed from obligations to use the corn-based fuel. Clashes between farmers and the oil industry over biofuel policy have posed […] Read more
Manitoba Tories pledge to pump up biofuel content
Reading Time: 2 minutes Manitoba’s incumbent Progressive Conservatives have pledged to boost provincial mandates for biofuel content in gasoline and diesel two weeks ahead of a provincial election. The Tories, whom recent polls favour for re-election on Sept. 10, included the pledge Tuesday in a campaign announcement specifically aimed at the province’s farmers. The party noted its biofuel promise […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn edges higher on cool weather
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures inched higher on Thursday, stabilizing from three-month lows set a day earlier, supported by worries that cool weather could slow the maturity of the delayed U.S. crop, analysts said. Wheat rose on technical buying and better-than-expected weekly U.S. export sales. But soybean futures declined, retreating from early strength […] Read more
Farmer’s threat prompts USDA to pull staff from crop tour
Reading Time: 3 minutes Henry County/Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Agriculture Department said on Wednesday it had pulled all staff from an annual crop tour after an employee was threatened, and three sources said the threat came over the phone from an angry farmer. Farmers have complained this month that a government crop report did not reflect damage […] Read more
CBOT weekly outlook: U.S. grain traders watch yields, demand
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Soybean and corn prices on the Chicago Board of Trade remain at the behest of geopolitical pressures and questionable crop yields. Terry Reilly, a grains analyst with Futures International in Chicago, said traders are keeping a close eye on the U.S. Pro Farmer tour throughout the eastern Corn Belt region. The tour has […] Read more
White House seen aiming to calm U.S. farmer unrest over biofuels
Reading Time: 3 minutes New York/Washington | Reuters — President Donald Trump’s administration has been scrambling to stem the tide of rising anger in Farm Belt states after its decision this month to allow numerous oil refiners to mix less ethanol into their gasoline, sources told Reuters on Tuesday. Trump held a two-hour meeting on Monday with members of […] Read more
Ag-state senator says Trump EPA ‘screwed us’ with biofuel waivers
Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — Iowa’s Republican Senator Chuck Grassley said the Trump administration’s Environmental Protection Agency has “screwed” the U.S. ethanol industry and farmers by granting waivers to 31 small petroleum refineries, effectively exempting them from an obligation to use more ethanol in their products. The powerful senator, who represents the largest ethanol-producing state in […] Read more
U.S. ethanol industry nearing breaking point: Green Plains CEO
Reading Time: 3 minutes New York | Reuters – The U.S. ethanol industry is about to break under the weight of the Trump Administration’s trade war with China and the surge in the number of small refineries exempted from the nation’s biofuel laws, said Todd Becker, CEO of Green Plains. The U.S. ethanol industry was preparing for growth in […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
