Araqchi said in a post on X the strait was open for all commercial vessels for the remainder of the U.S.-brokered 10-day truce that was agreed on Thursday between Israel and Lebanon to halt fighting between Israeli forces and Iran-backed Hezbollah.

Shortly after Araqchi’s statement, Trump posted on Truth Social: “IRAN HAS JUST ANNOUNCED THAT THE STRAIT OF IRAN IS FULLY OPEN AND READY FOR PASSAGE.”

Uncertainty over shipping resumption

But statements from both sides left uncertainty over how quickly shipping could resume. Trump said a U.S. blockade of ships sailing to Iranian ports – announced after talks with Tehran last weekend ended without agreement – would remain until “our transaction with Iran is 100% complete”.

Iran responded sharply, with Foreign Ministry spokesperson Esmaeil Baghaei warning that Tehran would take “necessary reciprocal measures” if a maritime blockade continued.

Vessel traffic data showed a group of around 20 ships, including container ships, bulk carriers, and tankers, moving through the Gulf toward the Strait of Hormuz. It was unclear whether they would be stopped or allowed to pass.

U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran began on February 28, triggering Iranian attacks on Gulf neighbors and reigniting the Israel-Hezbollah conflict in Lebanon.

Thousands have been killed and the conflict effectively shut the Strait of Hormuz — through which a fifth of the world’s oil and liquefied natural gas usually transits — threatening the worst oil shock in history. It also restricted movement of fertilizer, which led to a spike in prices.

Oil prices tumble, stocks jump

Oil prices fell about 10 per cent, and global stocks jumped on the news that marine traffic might flow through the strait again.

Shipping companies cautiously welcomed Iran’s announcement but said they would require clarifications, including about the risk of mines, before vessels move through the entry point to the Gulf.

The U.S. Navy warned seafarers that the mine threat in parts of the waterway was not fully understood and said they should consider avoiding the area.

A senior Iranian official said ships could pass only under coordination with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

After a video conference on Friday, more than a dozen countries said they were willing to join an international mission to protect shipping in the strait when conditions permit, Britain said.

Diplomacy progress

Trump told Reuters there could probably be more talks this weekend. Some diplomats said that was unlikely given the logistics of gathering in the Pakistani capital Islamabad, where the talks are expected to take place.

Troops were deployed along routes into Islamabad on Friday, though roads remained open and the government had not ordered business closures, as it did ahead of the previous meeting.

A Pakistani source involved in mediation efforts said an upcoming meeting could result in an initial memorandum of understanding, followed by a comprehensive deal within 60 days.

“Both sides are agreeing in principle. And technical bits come later,” said the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The U.S.-backed ceasefire between Israel and Lebanon appeared to be largely holding on Friday, despite Lebanese Army reports of some Israeli violations. Paramedics said an Israeli drone strike killed one person in southern Lebanon.

The conflict was reignited on March 2 when Hezbollah opened fire on Israel in support of Tehran, prompting an Israeli offensive that authorities say has killed nearly 2,300 people.

There was no immediate comment from the Israeli military on the reported ceasefire violations.

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Bill C-273 would allow provisional approval for products like fertilizers and pesticides if already approved in at least two trusted jurisdictions. The private members bill was introduced by Bow River, Alta. Conservative MP David Bexte earlier this week.

Some farm groups have commended the bill, saying it could help modernize Canada’s regulatory environment.

WHY IT MATTERS: Agriculture groups say Bill C-273 would support Canadian farmers’ competitiveness on the global market.

“Improving the pace at which new products reach the market has long been a priority for the agriculture sector, which has consistently called for regulatory modernization to improve the timeliness, transparency and predictability of the agricultural innovation system,” Grain Growers of Canada said in a statement on April 16.

“Bill C-273 would help advance that objective by enabling faster adoption of innovation and supporting competitiveness across the sector.”

The Wheat Growers Association, in a Friday statement, called the bill “a necessary first step toward fixing Canada’s broken regulatory system.”

Association president Gunter Jochum called the legislation “a long-overdue signal that Canada is ready to start taking competitiveness seriously again.”

“Farmers are not asking for shortcuts. We are asking for timely access to tools our competitors are accessing and often using safely and effectively,” he added.

The Wheat Growers said the bill should be seen as a starting point for a modernized regulatory system.

“The opportunity in front of us is significant,” said Jochum. “Getting this right means better yields, stronger farms, more resilient supply chains, and a more competitive Canada.”

“We encourage all parties to work together to get it passed and build on it.”

Fertilizer Canada president and CEO Michael Bourque called the bill “a practical step toward modernizing Canada’s regulatory framework and ensuring farmers have the tools they need to grow healthy, hearty crops” in a Wednesday statement.

Bourque said the legislation could build on previous efforts to strengthen collaboration with regulators.

As a private members’ bill, C-273 could face an uphill climb.

“Private members’ bills face a difficult path, but (C-273’s) introduction reflects a shared recognition across party lines that Canada’s regulatory timelines need to improve,” Grain Growers of Canada told Glacier FarmMedia.

“Bill C-273 and the recent re-examination of bulk labelling requirements demonstrate a positive effort to reduce regulatory burden in agriculture, and we look forward to continuing to work with Parliamentarians to strengthen the industry.”

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Barges of imported urea nitrogen fertilizer were purchased this week at the Port of New Orleans for export overseas, said Josh Linville, vice president for fertilizer at financial services firm StoneX.

“We saw a lot of physical barges that were being traded. They were linked to exports,” Linville said, adding, “It is feasible to buy barges on the Mississippi River, reload them on a vessel, and ship them out.”

Since the U.S. and Israel launched a war with Iran on February 28, nitrogen fertilizer prices have soared, with more than 30 per cent of global exports caught in Iran’s near closure of the Strait of Hormuz. The U.S. and Israel said on Friday the waterway had fully reopened after Israel’s ceasefire with Lebanon, sending oil prices sharply down.

Cheaper NOLA fertilizer offers profit opportunity

But while global fertilizer prices have soared, U.S. prices at New Orleans have remained about $170 (C$233) per short ton cheaper, providing buyers an opportunity to profit from the price difference.

With U.S. spring planting under way, some farmer groups and Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri have accused fertilizer companies of price gouging. But Linville said U.S. prices are so low compared to overseas markets that urea nitrogen fertilizer bound for the U.S. is being purchased at port and resold to better-paying markets overseas.

In the opaque U.S. fertilizer market, it was not immediately clear who was reselling the U.S. imports.

Global fertilizer producer CF Industries said in late March it was “foregoing new higher-priced export orders during this spring planting season” so U.S. farmers could access supplies.

Fertilizer cost a global concern

Manufacturers, however, only control the production and sale of fertilizers such as urea until they reach distributors. Retailers who sell to farmers and traders control much of the fertilizer supply. Fertilizer cost has become a major global concern for farmers because of sagging crop prices, which are far below what farmers received in 2022, when fertilizer prices spiked after Russia invaded Ukraine.

On Monday, Rabobank, the global agricultural banking giant, described both nitrogen and phosphate fertilizers as being well into “unaffordable” territory, with little relief possible for months.

“There could be a very long tail to this,” said Stephen Nicholson, head of North American grains and oilseeds for Rabobank.

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Monarch is American company originally founded to build an electric tractor from the ground up. After several months of economic struggles, it announced last week that its technology has been acquired by Caterpillar.

This follows a series of crippling events for the electric and autonomous tractor pioneer that included a loss of its manufacturing facility and lawsuits from some dealers in the United States over challenges with its autonomous technology.

WHY IT MATTERS: Monarch was one of the first independent electric tractor companies and has received hundreds of millions of dollars in investment.

Chuck Baresich, of Ontario-based Haggerty AgRobotics, said as a distributor of Monarch tractors they hadn’t heard much from the company recently. That led him to believe a sale of the technology was imminent.

Despite the insect-related names, Caterpillar is a surprise buyer for Monarch, as the company is more known for its large construction equipment than its smaller farm tractors. Acquiring Monarch will give them a foothold in proven electric and autonomous technology.

What will happen to Monarch tractors in Canada?

Baresich says there are two potential future routes for Monarch tractor’s technology.

The first possibility is that Caterpillar puts the technology on hold until it decides what to do with it and shuts down the Monarch tractor as it is. Baresich said Haggerty AgRobotics can manage that scenario as it has been servicing the Monarch tractors it already sold, including making some modifications to software.

“If the Monarch server is down, we’ll just run our own software on the tractors,” he said.

The better scenario, said Baresich, is for Caterpillar to continue to support Monarch tractor service, including its computer servers. This would enable current Monarch owners to operate as they have.

That would be a low-cost option for Caterpillar and they would have some recurring subscription revenue.

Haggerty AgRobotics stopped selling and taking orders for Monarchs a few months ago, but is examining other electric tractor options to serve the Canadian market. Their inventory of Monarch tractors was low.

Baresich said the major tractor companies are developing electric utility tractors and they will eventually get to the market, so Haggerty AgRobotics isn’t spending much development time on utility tractors.

Small electric tractors are finding a market in specific niches, especially in vineyards, greenhouses, vegetable operations and dairy farms, where reducing emissions in barns is prized for human and animal health.

Monarch ‘really close to being a polished product’

Baresich said the Monarch tractors fit that niche well as they were well-sized and large enough to carry an implement on a three-point hitch.

“The machine they had was really, really close to being a polished product.”

There were some driveability issues with the tractor, including some less-than-smooth gear engagement, but he expected that could be solved.

Some dealers in the United States filed lawsuits against the company after problems with Monarch’s autonomous operation option.

Baresich says those were mostly challenges in dairy farms. Farmers used the Monarch tractors to autonomously push feed and move items around the farm as needed. The tractors needed an indoor positioning system to work autonomously in barns and this hadn’t been developed.

“We didn’t put the tractors in the same position,” he says.

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The Iran war has disrupted supplies of both items to Australia, one of the world’s biggest grain exporters which relies on imports to meet its needs.

That will spur farmers to plant less wheat, which is hungry for fertilizer and earns a low price, and more canola, which brings the best financial returns, the Grain Industry Association of Western Australia said in a report.

WHY IT MATTERS: Australia is one of the world’s major grain exporters. High fertilizer prices may lead to lower yields in some grain growing regions around the world as farmers reduce fertilizer use or switch to less hungry crops.

The extent of land planted with wheat is set to fall 14 per cent to 3.68 million hectares (9.1 million acres) from last year’s 4.3 million hectares (10.6 million acres), it added.

Barley area should grow one per cent to 2.06 million hectares (5.1 million acres) from 2.04 million hectares (5 million acres), and canola area is set to expand 16 per cent to 1.99 million hectares (4.9 million acres) from 1.71 million hectares (4.2 million acres).

“Total area planted will be down from the record 9.45 million hectares (23 million acres) planted in 2025 due to the potential of reduced profitability,” GIWA said, referring to all winter crops including oats, lupins and pulses.

Many farmers are considering sharp cuts to sowing programs because of high costs and uncertainty about fuel and fertilizer supply but the planting season leaves them enough time to delay those decisions, if necessary.

“At this early stage of the season, most growers are sticking to subtle adjustments in cropping plans rather than making wholesale changes and are waiting to see how the seasonal and political climate unfolds,” GIWA said.

“The poorer performing paddocks will be left out to fallow area or replaced by a pasture or grain legume if it fits the rotation.”

Subsoil moisture reserves in most areas of Western Australia should help crops to grow, it added.

— Reporting by Peter Hobson

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U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent views fertilizer and agriculture supply chains as of essential importance, and is encouraging collaboration among G20 members and the global financial institutions, the sources said on condition of anonymity.

The IMF and others have warned that supply chain disruptions caused by the war, especially to fertilizer at the start of the critical growing season, threaten to push 45 million more people into a position of food insecurity.

Several countries expected to need financing help

Several sub-Saharan African nations already are seeking help, and the IMF expects at least a dozen countries to negotiate new lending programs with the global crisis lender as a result of the war, which has also sent energy prices sharply higher.

The U.S. is the current chair of the Group of 20 major economies, which includes Russia, China, Saudi Arabia, as well as the African Union and European Union.

The U.S. views fertilizer as intrinsic to food security, and views the initiative as an action that G20 members “can immediately move on,” said one senior U.S. official, who also spoke on condition of anonymity.

Details of the plan were not immediately available, but Washington is emphasizing the need for agility and flexibility in policy responses and cooperation on fertilizer.

The United Nations has been pushing a separate initiative to create a humanitarian corridor through the Strait of Hormuz to ensure that fertilizer and other needed goods get through.

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Output from January through March in the world’s largest pork-producing country surged to 16.69 million metric tons, data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) showed.

“Pig capacity reduction has been lower than expected,” said Rosa Wang, an analyst from Shanghai JC Intelligence. “Consumption is weak, so hog prices can’t rise.”

WHY IT MATTERS: China has been a key market for the Canadian hog sector, however that country has imposed a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian pork imports, which hasn’t budged despite improved relations between the countries.

Cash hog prices hovered around 8.7 yuan (C$1.75) per kg this week, falling from 14.9 yuan per kg a year earlier, according to data from MySteel, a consultancy.

Chinese farmers slaughtered 200.26 million hogs in the first quarter of 2026, up 2.8 per cent from a year earlier, according to the NBS data.

“Even though they’re reducing herd size, the pace of that reduction is still fairly modest, but output is growing quite quickly – this shows productivity really is rising very fast,” said Pan Chenjun, senior animal protein analyst at Rabobank in Hong Kong.

“Pork prices may pick up in the third quarter this year. Right now, the oversupply situation is still very serious.”

Home to half the world’s pigs, China’s massive hog sector is struggling with industry overcapacity and weak consumer demand.

Authorities have intensified efforts to rein in overcapacity, urging major firms to reduce breeding sows, keep hog weight to around 120 kg and tighten credits and subsidies.

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David Bexte, Conservative MP for Bow River, Alta., introduced Bill C-273, the Facilitating Agricultural Regulatory Modernization Act.

If enacted, it would allow provisional approval within 90 days of feeds, seeds, fertilizers and pest control products if they are already approved in at least two trusted jurisdictions.

“Farmers in Canada are currently stuck waiting years to access products that are already proven safe and widely used around the world in countries like the E.U., the U.K., the United States, Australia (and) New Zealand,” Bexte said to reporters in Ottawa on Wednesday.

WHY IT MATTERS: Federal regulators have faced criticism for the lengthy approval process for new products like pesticides.

“In some cases, these products never come to Canada,” he said. “The consequences hit hard: higher costs for producers, fewer tools to fight pests, diseases, lower yields, lower productivity.”

“This is the reality I want to fix in Ottawa.”

Bexte said Canada’s science-based review system will stay in place and full reviews may continue in parallel. The proposed approvals will be time-limited and conditional.

“This is about cutting unnecessary duplication,” he said,” not lowering standards.

The bill would also “speed up access to veterinary drugs by recognizing trusted international regulators.”

Bexte said the measures would ease costs and regulatory burdens without compromising health.

“This bill is about standing up for farmers, standing up for Canadians who are tired of paying more for less.”

In a Wednesday written statement, Fertilizer Canada president and CEO Michael Bourque called the bill “a practical step toward modernizing Canada’s regulatory framework and ensuring farmers have the tools they need to grow healthy, hearty crops.”

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Tryhuk said the liquidation of the nearby May contract has also been a main feature, with canola exports continuing to lurk in the background.

He said the commodity funds still have “substantial length” in that May contract, while hedgers, exporters and crushers have turned their focus to the much more traded July contract.

• For daily canola market updates, visit The Western Producer Markets Desk

Tryhuk also said there have been questions swirling about Canada’s canola export program, particularly with China.

“There’s been mixed feelings about how much China is in the market and if that’s going to have a material impact on the ending stocks number,” he said.

The most recent data from the Canadian Grain Commission showed 114,200 tonnes of canola were exported to China during February. However, given China’s earlier tariffs on the Canadian oilseed, cumulative exports for 2025-26 of 328,700 are less than a tenth of the same time last year.

There has been recent questions of whether China is currently buying canola, given how much it’s climbed since the start of the Middle East war. Tryhuk said the vessels in ports such as Vancouver can clarify the story.

“When you look at the vessel line up, there are a lot of boats headed to China,” he said. “What I have noticed is … as China becomes a more popular destination for exports, we’re now losing out on that business we had done before China came (back) into the market.”

Tryhuk said canola shipments to the European Union, Pakistan, Bangladesh and the United Arab Emirates have slowed.

“Those boats are not appearing on the vessel line-up,” he said. “What we are doing is we’ve substituted one canola outlet for another,” suggesting that won’t help to reduce canola ending stocks for 2025-26, which are expected to be quite large.

Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada projected the canola carryover for 2025-26 to be 2.76 million tonnes, up from 1.6 million in 2024-25. The estimate for exports is 8.2 million for the current marketing year versus 9.33 million the previous year.

As long as the Middle East war continues, Tryhuk said the premium in canola will remain.

The post ICE Weekly: More to canola price gains than Middle East war appeared first on Grainews.

The U.S. Department of Agriculture reported the crop at 34 per cent good to excellent as of April 12, down one point from the previous week and 13 points below last year. The worst conditions were in Colorado, Nebraska, Oklahoma and Texas at below 20 per cent, where dry conditions have affected quality. Meanwhile, 11 per cent of the nation’s crop was headed, compared to the five-year average of seven per cent.

• For daily market updates, visit The Western Producer Markets Desk

Scott Capinegro, hedging specialist for AgMarket.net, said that just like the weather, crop ratings are likely to change. He added that plantings for other crops could also be affected.

“We might have seen the top end for corn acres and we might have seen the low end for (soybean) acres for all we know. If it stays wet, there will be switching and there always is,” Capinegro said.

The USDA reported corn planting was at five per cent complete, compared to the five-year average of four per cent. For soybeans, six per cent of the crop was seeded, triple the average. Projected corn and soybean acres are 95.3 million and 84.7 million, respectively.

“The Delta is going in pretty well for beans and it seems like that’s what farmers are doing again. If you can go, put beans in as fast as you can first,” Capinegro said.

Prices for Kansas City hard red winter and Minneapolis spring wheat varieties rose on April 13 and 14 due to dry conditions over much of the U.S. But the trade is keeping one eye on the ongoing war in Iran.

“Just the last few days, it seems like grains are trying to break away from the oil market,” Capinegro said. “I think that’s because we’re going to start being more concerned about planting conditions, the rain and dryness.”

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