Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — While weather has become a primary factor in rising commodity prices over the past week, traders at the Chicago Board of Trade are also paying close attention on inflation. Earlier Wednesday morning, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics announced that the producer price index (PPI) increased by one per cent, more than expected, […] Read more
CBOT weekly outlook: Inflation another major concern for traders
Tensions build over Argentina’s beef export ban
Rural associations pledge pause in livestock trading
Reading Time: 2 minutes Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentine farm groups will halt trading of livestock in protest against a 30-day government ban on beef exports aimed at bringing down domestic prices, the country’s main producer groups said in a joint statement Tuesday. The South American country’s centre-left Peronist government unveiled the ’emergency measure’ to tamp down high […] Read more
High food prices hurting India’s poor
Inflation pain expected to persist for months yet
Reading Time: 2 minutes New Delhi | Reuters — India’s retail inflation may stay elevated for at least three more months after hitting a six-year high in October, as excess rain has damaged standing crops and seedlings, while edible oils that the country imports have become expensive. The high prices are a particular cause of concern for India’s hundreds […] Read more
India’s levy cut on lentils part of balancing act
Global markets had zero or little forewarning of decision
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — To Pulse Canada, the recent move by the Indian government to temporarily reduce the import levy on lentils from 30 to 10 per cent is part of a balancing act between competing interests. Greg Cherewyk, president of Pulse Canada, explained that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is “looking after the needs of a politically […] Read more
Panic buying, lockdowns may drive world food inflation
World has ample grain and oilseed supplies, FAO and analysts say
Reading Time: 3 minutes Singapore | Reuters — Lockdowns and panic food buying due to the coronavirus pandemic could ignite world food inflation even though there are ample supplies of staple grains and oilseeds in key exporting nations, a senior economist at FAO and agricultural analysts said. The world’s richest nations poured unprecedented aid into the global economy as […] Read more
CN, CP come in under 2018-19 grain revenue caps
Reading Time: 2 minutes Changes to federal rail transport rules that took effect in 2018 have put Canada’s big two railways well under their new Prairie grain revenue caps for the 2018-19 crop year. The Canadian Transportation Agency on Monday announced Canadian National Railway (CN) booked 2018-19 Prairie grain revenue of $933,357,710, a figure $371,116 below what the CTA […] Read more
Canadians to spend more on food in 2020, report predicts
Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Canadians will spend two to four per cent more on food in 2020, according to the latest Canada Food Price Report from researchers at Dalhousie University’s Agri-Food Analytics Lab and the University of Guelph. The average family in the country will see its total food bill for groceries and restaurant meals rise by […] Read more
Maduro rebukes Kellogg for leaving Venezuela
Reading Time: 2 minutes Caracas/Valencia | Reuters — Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro blasted U.S.-based cereal maker Kellogg Co. on Tuesday for pulling out of the country due to the economic crisis and vowed to hand over the company’s factory to workers. At a campaign rally ahead of Sunday’s presidential election, which Maduro is expected to win, the president called […] Read more
Farming in a troubled economy
It looks like a weak dollar isn’t so good for agriculture after all
Reading Time: 5 minutes Farmers almost universally accept the premise that a drop in the Canadian dollar is bullish for our agriculture because our commodities are priced off the U.S. This increases our prices domestically and also makes us more competitive both in the U.S. and in regions where commodity transactions are made in American dollars. But is this […] Read more
Argentina denounces farmer soy hoarding, says hurts state income
Reading Time: 2 minutes Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentine growers hoarding soybeans to protect themselves from inflation are hurting both state and farm income in the world’s No. 3 exporter of the oilseed, a top government official said Thursday. The South American country pioneered the use of plastic horizontal silos to stockpile grains. Growers are hanging onto soybeans, […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
