(PaulCowan/iStock/Getty Images)

U.K. to ask to join Trans-Pacific trading bloc ‘shortly’

Bilateral deals signed or in works with several CPTPP members

Reading Time: 2 minutes London | Reuters — Britain will soon submit its application to join the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) trade bloc, trade minister Liz Truss said on Wednesday. Since deciding to leave the European Union, a process it completed at the end of 2020, Britain has been seeking out new trading arrangements around […] Read more

Screenshot of the Gulf Livestock 1 from the website of Dubai-based shipping company Gulf Navigation. (GulfNav.com)

More than 40 crew missing after cattle ship capsizes in storm off Japan

Rescued crew member says engine failed, wave capsized ship

Reading Time: 3 minutes CORRECTED/UPDATED, Sept. 3 — Tokyo/Wellington | Reuters — More than 40 crew members were missing after a ship carrying cattle from New Zealand to China capsized in stormy weather in the East China Sea, the Japanese coast guard said Thursday. A lone crew member from the Gulf Livestock 1 had been rescued so far. Three […] Read more


(Rahr.com)

Strong export demand, acreage ahead for barley

Lower supplies from Australia benefit Canadian growers

Reading Time: 2 minutes MarketsFarm — Canadian malting barley acreage is expected to remain high in the coming year, mostly due to strong export demand. Peter Watts, managing director of the Canadian Malting Barley Technical Center in Winnipeg, said tough harvest conditions were partially to blame for lowered malt barley output in 2019. “We had a fairly lousy harvest, […] Read more

CBOT March 2020 corn with Bollinger (20,2) bands. (Barchart)

CBOT weekly outlook: Corn set to rally

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade may be due for a rally. The March corn contract hit $3.92 per bushel three times earlier in the month, facing stiff resistance to break higher (all figures US$). Prices established lows last week, around $3.7525. “I would like to see resistance be taken to […] Read more



File photo of wheat storage for a flour mill at Yokohama, Japan. (Joel-t/iStock/Getty Images)

Japan trade deal aims to put U.S. farmers on par with TPP

Reading Time: 2 minutes Washington | Reuters — The new U.S.-Japan trade deal will provide staged reduction of Japanese tariffs for more than US$2 billion worth of U.S. beef and pork, matching access now granted to the 11 Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact countries, a text of the agreement shows. U.S. President Donald Trump presided over a White House signing […] Read more



Wagyu beef on skewers at a Tokyo market. (Michal_Staniewski/iStock/Getty Images)

Japan deal levels field for U.S. beef, but sales surge unlikely

Reading Time: 3 minutes Tokyo/Chicago | Reuters — U.S. beef exporters, unhappy after President Donald Trump pulled out of a multilateral trade pact in 2017, stand to sell more meat in Japan after the U.S. leader and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe cut a deal to slice into tariffs. But agriculture experts say that for now, that boost may […] Read more


ICE January 2020 canola (candlesticks) and CBOT January 2020 soybeans (yellow line). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola values stay rangebound

Reading Time: < 1 minute MarketsFarm — Canola prices have been characterized as “firm one day and softer the next,” this week, remaining largely rangebound in light trading activity. “It’s hard to tell why, but canola oscillates between stronger than soybeans and then weaker,” said Ken Ball of P.I. Financial in Winnipeg. “It’s just spreaders playing back and forth with […] Read more

U.S. President Donald Trump holds a bilateral meeting with Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe on the sidelines of the 74th session of the United Nations General Assembly in New York City on Sept. 25, 2019. (Photo: Reuters/Jonathan Ernst)

U.S., Japan sign limited trade deal

Reading Time: 3 minutes New York | Reuters — U.S. President Donald Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe signed a limited trade deal on Wednesday that cuts tariffs on U.S. farm goods, Japanese machine tools and other products while further staving off the threat of higher U.S. car duties. Trump said the deal would open up Japanese markets […] Read more