CHICAGO (Reuters) — Syngenta AG, the world’s largest crop chemicals company, said on Monday it did not expect to learn before the summer whether China will approve a now-banned genetically modified strain of corn that importers have rejected by the boatload. Syngenta said it believed that China’s National Biosafety Committee, which is responsible for approving […] Read more
Stories by Reuters News Service
Chinese pork giant WH Group pulls IPO due to weak demand: sources
HONG KONG (Reuters) — China’s WH Group Ltd., the world’s biggest pork company, has postponed its planned Hong Kong initial public offering due to weak demand for the deal even after it cut the offer size by two-thirds, sources said on Tuesday. The decision is a setback in the company’s effort to cut the large […] Read more
Canadian farmers stuck with last harvest scramble to plant next crop
WINNIPEG (Reuters) — Western Canadian farmers still stuck with last year’s harvest are turning to the government for credit help in record numbers, and insiders fear problems could cascade through the agricultural economy as the new planting season gets under way. A record-breaking harvest and harsh winter last year overwhelmed Canada’s two big railways, backing […] Read more
ADM earnings dip as cold drives up grain handling costs
(Reuters) — Agribusiness company Archer Daniels Midland Co. on Tuesday said quarterly earnings slipped as a cold U.S. winter drove up costs for grain merchandising and handling. Illinois-based ADM reported net earnings for the first quarter ended March 31 of $267 million, or 40 cents per share, down from $269 million, or 41 cents, a […] Read more
U.S. corn 19 percent planted, lagging average pace
CHICAGO, April 28 (Reuters) – The pace of U.S. corn planting remained behind normal as of Sunday despite a week of mild weather that spurred the season’s most active field work to date, according to government weekly crop progress data on Monday. U.S. farmers have planted 19 percent of their 2014 corn crop as of […] Read more
CME feeder cattle hit record high as supplies tight
By Theopolis Waters CHICAGO, April 28 (Reuters) – Chicago Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle futures spiked to a record high on Monday, driven by tight supplies of young calves for fattening at feedyards, traders said. Fewer cattle are available now following years of drought in parts of the United States that have forced ranchers to downsize […] Read more
Killer virus spreads unchecked through U.S. hog belt, pushing pork to record prices
CHICAGO (Reuters) — John Goihl, a hog nutritionist in Shakopee, Minnesota, knows a farmer in his state who lost 7,500 piglets just after they were born. In Sampson County, North Carolina, 12,000 of Henry Moore’s piglets died in three weeks. Some 30,000 piglets perished at John Prestage’s Oklahoma operation in the fall of 2013. The […] Read more
Argentina soy harvest speeds up under sunny weather
BUENOS AIRES (Reuters) — Sunny weather in Argentina over the last week allowed soy farmers to speed up soy harvesting after delays caused by an extremely rainy early April, with continued dryness over the days ahead expected to help maintain a high harvesting tempo. Argentina, the world’s No. 3 soybean exporter, is expecting a record […] Read more
Tight U.S. cattle supply trims March feedlot placements
By Theopolis Waters CHICAGO, April 25 (Reuters) – The number of cattle placed in U.S. feedlots last month unexpectedly fell five percent from March 2013 after several years of drought in parts of the country led to fewer animals for feedlots to draw from for fattening, a government report showed on Friday. Most analysts had […] Read more
Canola soars on StatsCan report, new sale to Pakistan
Canola soared higher Friday with continuing support from the bullish Statistics Canada report Thursday and on a report that Pakistan had bought about 100,000 tonnes of the oilseed. May canola ended Friday at $471.70 up $19.30 or 4.27 percent. Over the week May was up $2 or 0.4 percent. Although the StatsCan numbers were for […] Read more
