By Theopolis Waters CHICAGO, April 17 (Reuters) – Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures on Thursday finished higher on fund buying and short-covering ahead of the Easter holiday, traders said. CME will be closed on Friday in observance of the Good Friday holiday. Some investors bought the May and June contracts in anticipation of a post-Easter […] Read more
Stories by Reuters News Service
Canola dips on profit taking; wheat up on frost damage worry
Canola futures fell a little on Friday but posted gains over the trading week. May closed at $469.70, down $3.60 on the day. But on the week May rose $8.70 or 1.9 percent. November closed at $494.10, down $3 on the day, but up $9.50 on the week or almost two percent. The weaker trade […] Read more
BNSF, CP railroads ordered to report U.S. fertilizer delivery plans
(Reuters) — U.S. officials ordered BNSF Railway Co. and Canadian Pacific Railway Co. to report by Friday their plans to ensure timely fertilizer deliveries to the U.S. Farm Belt ahead of the spring planting season. The U.S. Surface Transportation Board decision filed late on Tuesday follows a hearing in Washington last week where U.S. agriculture […] Read more
Severe winter weather dampens DuPont’s farm sales
(Reuters) — DuPont, which is making a big push into the agriculture market, reported a steeper-than-expected three percent fall in quarterly revenue as severe winter in North America delayed the planting of crops. Sales in the agriculture business, DuPont’s biggest, fell six percent, the first decline in ten quarters, due to lower demand for seeds […] Read more
Vermont steps closer to passing GMO food-labelling law
(Reuters) — The Vermont Senate passed a bill on Wednesday that would make it the first U.S. state to enact mandatory labelling of foods made with genetically modified organisms, or GMOs. Unlike bills passed last year in Maine and Connecticut, which require other states to pass GMO labelling laws before they can be enacted, Vermont’s […] Read more
Pork price rebound rallies CME hogs; cattle firm
By Theopolis Waters CHICAGO, April 16 (Reuters) – Chicago Mercantile Exchange hog futures on Wednesday settled higher after a choppy day of trading, supported by unexpectedly strong demand for pork at wholesale, traders said. Wednesday morning’s wholesale pork price turned $2.38 per hundredweight higher at $124.11, after falling $2.68 the day before, according to U.S. […] Read more
Boosting West Coast exports key for moving bigger Canada crops
WINNIPEG (Reuters) — Canada needs to invest in shipping more grains and oilseeds off the West Coast as harvests get larger, to avoid the massive transportation backlogs that followed last year’s record crops, industry officials said on Wednesday. Last year, 19.3 million tonnes of grain moved in bulk and containers combined through Port Metro Vancouver, […] Read more
European parliamentarians back measures against ‘invasive aliens’
BRUSSELS (Reuters) — The European Parliament backed a law on Wednesday to help keep alien species of plants and wildlife out of Europe and limit their spread in the event they do get in. The new law seeks tougher border controls, to introduce an early warning system and to ensure rapid response and management of […] Read more
Ukraine 2014 early spring grain sowing 92 percent complete
KIEV (Reuters) — Ukraine’s farmers have sown 6.37 million acres of early spring grain as of April 16, 92 percent of the expected sowing area, the agriculture ministry said on Wednesday. The ministry gave no comparable figure for sowing this time last year as the campaign began two weeks earlier than in 2013. Some analysts […] Read more
U.S. 2014 pork production seen down two percent due to pig virus: USDA
(Reuters) — U.S. pork production is likely to decline about two percent this year due to the spread of porcine epidemic diarrhea, or PED, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said in its monthly livestock outlook report. Live hog prices were expected to increase as a result of the pig virus, the report said. As of […] Read more
