Signage on Viterra’s office building in Regina. (Dave Bedard photo)

Viterra in talks to merge with Bunge, source says

Merger would vault Viterra into top tier of grain trade

Reuters — Global grain trader Viterra is in talks to merge with U.S. rival Bunge Ltd., according to a person familiar with the matter, in a potential mega-deal that would reshape the top tier of global grains merchants. There is no certainty that Viterra, part-owned by Switzerland-based mining and trading giant Glencore, will be able […] Read more

ICE November 2023 canola with Bollinger bands (20,2) and July 2023 canola (green line). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Don’t bank on $700 canola, analyst suggests

Fresh bullish news not yet in view

MarketsFarm — New-crop canola prices on ICE Futures seemed to be destined to remain well below $700 per tonne, according to analyst Errol Anderson of ProMarket Communications in Calgary. “The market tends to be back where it came from,” Anderson said, stressing that chances of canola pushing higher requires fresh bullish news. “It’s got to […] Read more



Aerial view of a breakwater near Ukraine’s Black Sea port of Pivdennyi (formerly Yuzhny) near Odesa. (Viktor Ketal/iStock/Getty Images)

Russia preventing Black Sea grain deal port from operating, Ukraine says

Black Sea Grain Initiative was extended last week

Kyiv | Reuters — The Ukrainian port of Pivdennyi has halted operations because Russia is not allowing ships to enter it, in effect cutting it out of a deal allowing safe Black Sea grain exports, a Ukrainian official said on Tuesday. The Black Sea Grain Initiative signed by Russia and Ukraine last July, and extended […] Read more


CBOT July 2023 soft red winter wheat with 20-day moving average, MGEX July 2023 hard red spring wheat (yellow line) and K.C. July 2023 hard red winter wheat (orange line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat up off two-year low, pulls corn higher

Soybeans down on profit-taking

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures rose 2.6 per cent on Tuesday, bouncing from their lowest in more than two years, on concerns that Ukraine’s exports were being restricted despite the extension of the Black Sea export deal, traders said. The gains in wheat lent support to corn futures, while soybeans retreated on profit-taking […] Read more

CBOT July 2023 corn with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soy futures rally

Wheat up off lowest level since March 2021

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean and corn futures rallied on Monday and wheat futures firmed as a round of bargain buying supported commodities prices after a bearish global supply picture pushed prices sharply lower this month. The benchmark Chicago Board of Trade wheat contract dropped below $6 a bushel for the first time in […] Read more


CBOT July 2023 soybeans with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Chicago futures roil as U.S. debt ceiling talks halt

Wheat turns down, after technical bounce early in session

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean futures slid sharply on technical trading on Friday, as investors rushed to liquidate their positions ahead of the weekend, traders said. The most-active soybean contract fell to the lowest prices seen since July — and several new-crop soybean contracts also plunged to new contract lows […] Read more

CBOT December 2023 corn with 20-day moving average (yellow line) and July 2023 corn (orange high/low/close). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: July corn down on poor exports, strong crop prospects

CBOT soybeans, wheat also down; new-crop December corn up off decline

Chicago | Reuters — Benchmark U.S. corn futures fell on Thursday to their lowest in 19 months, pressured by disappointing export data and prospects for big U.S. crops, analysts said. Soybean futures hit a 10-month low, and wheat futures slipped more than two per cent as an extension of a deal to allow war-ravaged Ukraine […] Read more


File photo of a storm cloud from the southwestern end of Lake Winnipeg at Matlock, Man. (IanChrisGraham/iStock/Getty Images Plus)

More than half of world’s large lakes drying up, study finds

Gains in Great Lakes, Lake Winnipeg come from runoff, rainfall

London | Reuters — More than half of the world’s large lakes and reservoirs have shrunk since the early 1990s, chiefly because of climate change, intensifying concerns about water for agriculture, hydropower and human consumption, a study published on Thursday found. A team of international researchers reported that some of the world’s most important freshwater […] Read more