CME October 2020 lean hogs with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hog futures up on pork demand, cash prices

November feeder cattle touch lowest level since July 2

Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. hog futures extended gains on Wednesday and the front-month contract reached its highest price in about a year due to strength in the cash market, traders said. Solid pork demand has underpinned cash prices in the face of large hog supplies. The U.S. pork cutout, an indication of wholesale pork […] Read more



CME December 2020 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages and October 2020 live cattle (purple line). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Nearby cattle futures lower on profit-taking

Chicago lean hogs end mixed

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live cattle futures closed mixed on Thursday with nearby contracts drifting lower on profit-taking a day after the benchmark December contract touched a six-week high, analysts said. Commodity funds hold a net long position in Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures, leaving the market vulnerable to bouts of long […] Read more


CBOT December 2020 corn with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn hits seven-month top on tightening stocks

Chicago November soybeans end flat, December wheat down

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn futures rose to a seven-month peak on Thursday, boosted by strong export sales and bullish government data indicating domestic stocks were smaller than expected, traders said. However, corn settled off its highs and soybean futures erased gains to end flat, under pressure from an influx of grain sales by […] Read more

Canadian ginseng, whose shipments to Hong Kong have plummeted since COVID-19 infections peaked in Canada this spring and travel restrictions took effect, is seen in southwestern Ontario’s Norfolk County in this undated photograph. (Handout photo courtesy Helen Mels via Reuters)

Ginseng piling up in Canada despite Chinese demand

Travel restrictions depress new-crop sales

Winnipeg/Hong Kong | Reuters — The pandemic’s crushing effect on international travel has grounded Canadian exports of ginseng, a root widely used in Asia to treat everything from the common cold to impotency, at a time when health is top of consumers’ minds. Canada is the world’s second-largest ginseng exporter after China, with most of […] Read more


CBOT December 2020 corn with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soy ease as harvest advances

USDA quarterly stocks data awaited

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. corn and soybean futures closed lower on Tuesday on expectations of rapid harvest progress this week and a slowdown in demand from China, a big buyer of U.S. soybeans and corn, in recent weeks, analysts said. Wheat futures also fell but declines in all three commodities were muted as traders […] Read more

File photo of Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau speaking to media in Winnipeg in March 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Canada not benefiting from CETA, Bibeau says

Ex-premiers write to Ottawa with critique of EU's continued trade barriers

Canada is not benefiting from the Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) with the European Union (EU), federal Agriculture Minister Marie-Claude Bibeau grants. Expected to spur $1.5 billion in new agri-food exports, the free trade deal has fallen short of those targets since its implementation in 2017. In a letter Monday to Prime Minister Justin […] Read more