Canada’s biggest dairy processor has a new chief heading up its Canadian dairy division. Montreal-based Saputo Inc. announced Friday it named Carl Colizza, today the Canadian dairy division’s senior vice-president for strategic business development, as the division’s president and chief operating officer. Colizza, who’s worked for Saputo since 1998 and held several senior management posts […] Read more
Saputo names new Canadian dairy head
CWB building sold: reports
CNS Canada — The former Canadian Wheat Board’s downtown Winnipeg office building has been sold, according to media reports. The eight-story building on Main Street was bought by Calgary-based Hopewell Development, reportedly for $9.7 million. The former wheat board, now called CWB, will continue to lease two floors of the building. The sale was initially […] Read more
‘River of rain’ begins falling on drought-stricken California
Los Angeles | Reuters — A so-called “atmospheric river of rain” began falling on northern California on Friday, bringing worries about flash floods, high winds and mudslides but offering little relief to a state left parched by several years of drought. The storm, also known as a “Pineapple Express” because it results from a ribbon […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Bargain hunters reverse CME hog futures losses
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hogs rallied on Friday, with some contracts up the three-cents-per-pound price limit, fueled by bargain hunting following futures’ plunge to a six-year low in the previous session, traders said. February closed 0.6 cent/lb. higher at 63.875 cents, while April and May ended three cents higher at 69.275 […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans fall as dollar rises on jobs data
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybeans ended lower on Friday as a jump in the dollar on strong employment data spurred technical selling, traders said. Additionally, forecasts of record soybean production in South America hung over prices. Corn and wheat closed slightly firmer on a pre-weekend short covering bounce. Wheat was underpinned by a pickup […] Read more
Starbucks eyes coconuts as non-dairy, non-soy demand soars
Reuters — Starbucks Corp. said on Wednesday its 12,123 U.S. shops would begin offering coconut milk on Feb. 17, as it seeks to keep pace with soaring demand for non-dairy and non-soy milk alternatives. Starbucks began offering soy milk in 1997. Consumer tastes have since evolved, driving strong demand for other non-dairy alternatives made from […] Read more
CME expects US$10M savings per year closing futures pits
New York | Reuters –– CME Group will save US$10 million (C$12.4 million) per year after it shuts nearly all of its futures pits in New York and Chicago, a spokesman said Thursday, as the world’s biggest futures exchange pushes ahead with cost-cutting measures. While that may be a significant saving in a single step, […] Read more
Supply management limits growth in Canada, Saputo says
Reuters — Canada’s tightly managed dairy sector limits domestic opportunities for Saputo, the country’s largest dairy, forcing it to focus on growth elsewhere, the company’s chief executive said Thursday. CEO Lino Saputo Jr. emphasized in an interview that the company is not lobbying Ottawa to either dismantle or preserve Canada’s supply management system for dairy, […] Read more
World food prices fall in January, rally seen unlikely
Rome | Reuters — World food prices are unlikely to rise much from their four-year slump as long as high production, low oil prices and limited import demand continue, a senior economist for the United Nations’ food agency said Thursday. The U.N.’s Food and Agriculture Organization’s (FAO) global food price index fell in January, continuing […] Read more
Cattle chew through less grain in 2014-15, so far
CNS Canada — Mild weather, fewer cattle and a growing list of alternative grains led Canadian cattle to chew through less feed in the first five months of the 2014-15 crop year. According to Tuesday’s grain stocks report from Statistics Canada, feed barley usage was at 2.67 million tonnes as of Dec. 31, down from […] Read more