Expect food security to become a major topic in coming months. It is beginning to look like production from 2021 might not be enough to rebuild comfort in global grain stocks. In the context of a world slowly recovering from the miseries of COVID-19, now coupled with price inflation in everything from lumber to vegetable […] Read more
Author Archives
It’s time meal becomes the Cinderella story for canola
With three new canola crushing plants and a major expansion to an existing facility all announced in the last few weeks, questions arise about the adequacy of seed supply to crush and the markets the plants will serve. The soaring new demand for renewable diesel partly addresses the market opportunity on the oil side of […] Read more
Better weather and hot demand vie for market attention
Grain markets are being pulled in two directions. Improving weather in North America and Europe is providing downward pressure on prices but that is partly being offset by a Chinese buying spree on new crop American corn as prospects for Brazilian supply fade. As of May 21, China had booked 10.7 million tonnes of new […] Read more
Corn market corrects but weather to dictate price future
Every farmer hopes for good yields as they plant their crops but I wonder how many American farmers expect a record yield as they put their corn in this year? A significant part of the western corn belt has less than normal rain this spring and a big part of North Dakota is in drought, […] Read more
Soaring cost of commodities sparks inflation worries
Watching the soaring price of crops, lumber, steel, copper and other commodities, it is hard to understand why there isn’t more official concern about inflation. Inflation has not been much of an issue since the 1980s but when it was, constantly rising prices and the high interest rates used to combat them were a terrible […] Read more
Lagging cattle prices might improve as supply tightens
The lingering effects of the battle against COVID-19 have kept cattle prices lower than expected, given strong beef prices and demand. The Choice cutout 600-900 pounds in the United States in April has been running very strong for this time of the year and was at US$293.76 per hundredweight, about $70 higher than the five-year […] Read more
Crushers look offshore for supply as farmers empty bins
Canadian oilseed crushers are so concerned about tight supply at the end of the crop year that they have bought two shipments each of up to 30,000 tonnes of canola from Ukraine for delivery in August. I can’t remember that ever happening before. The news reported by Reuters came last week as canola May futures […] Read more
Weather and geopolitical tensions dominate market talk
Frosts in France and drought worries in North Dakota and parts of the Canadian Prairies are providing price support to a worried crop market that urgently needs ideal crop weather to replenish global supply. In the background, all markets are watching the rising tensions between Russia and Ukraine as well as China’s intimidation of Taiwan. […] Read more
Tight supply, good demand lift hogs to seven year highs
Chicago hog futures are the highest since 2014 as traders assess tight supply in the United States, strong pork export demand and hopes for rising domestic demand. Recently, I wrote about how African swine fever still grips China’s hog herd, forcing more culling that will lead to continued elevated pork imports. But since then, hog […] Read more
Ship slowdown at port of Vancouver might be temporary
After moving at a furious pace for months, West Coast crop exports might slow a little in the final third of the crop year as old-crop supply dwindles. The line-up of ships at Vancouver fell to only 15 in week 34 to March 30, down from around 30 in weeks 25 to 30. Last year […] Read more
