Reading Time: 4 minutes Meat packer Olymel plans to restart slaughter operations Thursday at one of Canada’s largest hog plants following a major outbreak of COVID-19 among employees. Olymel, an arm of Sollio Co-operative, said late Wednesday it had recalled “employees that are needed to ensure that the gradual restarting of operations goes smoothly” at its Red Deer, Alta. […] Read more
Olymel restarting hog slaughter at Red Deer
Work to resume at pork plant this week
Olymel to close Red Deer hog plant against COVID-19
Hog deliveries suspended 'until further notice'
Reading Time: 2 minutes Meat packer Olymel plans to temporarily close its hog slaughter and pork processing plant at Red Deer, Alta., winding down that facility’s operations starting this week against a rapidly spreading COVID-19 outbreak among workers. The plant, one of Canada’s largest by slaughter capacity at over 45,000 hogs per week, has notified its hog suppliers and […] Read more
Former F. Menard hog plant upgrading for second shift
Olymel announces $9 million in renovations
Reading Time: 2 minutes Pork and poultry packer Olymel plans to dial up its pork output with a new evening shift at a Quebec hog plant it now owns in the province’s Monteregie. Olymel, the meat packing arm of Sollio Co-operative Group, said Friday it will invest $9 million in renovations at its slaughter, cutting and deboning plant at […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hogs set contract high on strong demand, lighter weights
CME cattle futures close lower
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures on Wednesday reached a contract high for the second consecutive day on strong demand and a decline in farm animal weights, analysts said. Average hog weights have declined as processors have cleared a backlog of hogs on farms that began last spring when COVID-19 outbreaks temporarily shut […] Read more
China’s 2020 corn, wheat imports reach record highs
Reading Time: < 1 minute Beijing | Reuters — China’s grains imports soared to record highs in 2020, customs data showed on Monday, after tight domestic corn supplies pushed prices to multi-year peaks, driving demand for cheaper imports. China, the world’s top agricultural market, bought a record 11.3 million tonnes of imported corn last year, including 2.25 million tonnes in […] Read more
China’s 2020 pork output higher than expected
Reported slowing of ASF-induced decline beats expectations
Reading Time: 2 minutes Beijing | Reuters — China’s pork output posted significant signals toward recovery last year after the sector was decimated by an incurable hog disease in 2019, official data showed Monday. China’s 2020 pork output fell 3.3 per cent from a year earlier, to 41.13 million tonnes, after plunging 21 per cent in 2019, the National […] Read more
USDA unveils more COVID-19 aid, mostly for livestock farmers
Funds earmarked for farmers under contract
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday it will pay an additional US$2.3 billion in COVID-19 aid to farmers, directing more money to livestock producers suffering from disruptions in slaughtering and restaurant demand for meat. The aid, which comes from money allocated to USDA from previous pandemic stimulus legislation, follows […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog, cattle futures rise on bargain buying
Reading Time: < 1 minute Chicago | Reuters — CME live cattle futures rose on Friday on some bargain buying but still posted their first weekly loss in five weeks, traders said. Bargain buying also supported hog futures, which had posted lower closes in seven of the previous eight sessions. Signs of weakness in the cash markets kept a lid […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Live cattle sink on profit-taking, technical selling
Lean hogs, feeder cattle mixed
Reading Time: 2 minutes Chicago | Reuters — U.S. cattle futures fell on Monday in a profit-taking and technical-selling setback amid concerns about weaker demand for cattle and beef, traders said. Position rolling by funds, as they closed out long positions in the spot month and bought deferred contracts on the second day of the five-session “Goldman roll” period, […] Read more
Tyson fires seven managers after probe into COVID-19 wagering
Employees had been suspended following lawsuit
Reading Time: < 1 minute Reuters — Tyson Foods said Wednesday it had fired seven managers at an Iowa pork plant after investigating allegations that they took bets on how many employees would catch COVID-19. The independent investigation, led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, came in response to a lawsuit filed by the son of a worker at […] Read more
A message from April Stewart, Country Guide's Associate Editor
