Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures tumbled on Monday as investors reduced risk and after the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) last week confirmed producers placed more animals into feedlots in December, analysts said. USDA said cattle producers placed 1.96 million head in feedlots last month, up six per cent from a […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME cattle sink to November lows
Lean hogs set contract high
U.S. grains: Wheat futures rise on fears over Russia-Ukraine conflict
CBOT corn reaches seven-month high; South America rains weigh on soy futures
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures advanced on Monday amid fears that Russia may invade Ukraine and disrupt grain shipments from the region, a major global supplier, traders said. Corn futures also strengthened and set a seven-month high, while soybean futures weakened. Grain traders kept their attention on Russia because it is the world’s […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn futures hit highest since June
Soy, wheat fall on profit taking
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade corn futures rose to their highest in seven months on Friday as concerns about production in South America spurred demand for U.S. supplies, traders said. Soybean futures eased from the seven-month top they hit on Thursday, succumbing to a round of profit taking. Soybeans closed well above […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures surge to highest in over three months
U.S. cattle counts up from last year
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures rose 1.5 per cent on Friday to hit their highest since mid-October, extending a rally on technical buying. Traders remained focused on the slaughter rate as COVID-19 disruptions have caused slowdowns at meat processors throughout the month. “The industry still isn’t functioning normally, though the processing […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans rally, corn flat, wheat falls
Strong cash soybean market supportive
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade soybean futures surged on Thursday as a combination of rising export hopes, concerns about the South American crop and technical buying pushed prices to a seven-month high, traders said. Corn futures ended close to unchanged after fluctuating between positive and negative territory throughout the session, while wheat […] Read more
Feed weekly outlook: Status quo for now, but change coming
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Feed grains in Western Canada have been holding close to the status quo for the last little while, but that’s likely to change, according to Jim Beusekom of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge. He pointed to increases in corn and wheat this week in U.S. futures markets, in which corn has gained about […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures touch highest since mid-October
CME cattle futures down on day
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures jumped to their highest in more than three months on Thursday, supported by strength in the cash markets, traders said. Most actively traded February lean hogs rose 2.625 cents, to 84.925 cents/lb. (all figures US$). The front-month contract closed just below its session peak of 84.975 […] Read more
ICE weekly outlook: Choppy canola trade expected
Old-crop 'likely pushing the upper limits'
Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — A speculative selloff weighed heavily on the ICE Futures canola market during the week ended Wednesday, before the selling subsided and prices regained much of their lost ground. “For prices this high, that’s pretty routine stuff,” said Ken Ball of PI Financial in Winnipeg on the $80 per tonne drop in the nearby […] Read more
CBOT weekly outlook: Prices up on hot weather, growing tensions
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Soybean, corn and wheat futures at the Chicago Board of Trade were all showing some strength Wednesday, recovering from losses posted over the previous week. South American weather concerns and broader geopolitical tensions countered any bearish influence from the latest supply/demand estimates from the U.S. Department of Agriculture. South America recently received much-needed […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat, corn rally to highest since December
Soybeans jump 2.2 per cent
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures surged 3.6 per cent to their highest in more than three weeks on Wednesday, with traders focused on dry and cold weather in key growing areas of the Midwest and southern Plains. Weather concerns also boosted soybeans and corn as investors shrugged off recent rains in South America. […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
