CME live cattle futures turn lower, hogs gain modestly

CHICAGO, Jan 5 (Reuters) – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures on Thursday gave back some of Wednesday’s gains, pressured by profit-taking and technical selling, said traders. They said early-session futures buying subsided after investors digested this week’s cash prices. February live cattle closed 0.600 cent per pound lower at 115.075 cents. April ended down […] Read more

Thoughts, theories, lots of questions for 2017

Thoughts, theories, lots of questions for 2017

This is the traditional time for lists of things likely or possible to happen in the coming year, so here are mine for 2017’s agricultural markets: I throw this in here because it could actually happen and because most of the rest of my list is dismal. If world growth begins grinding higher, that will […] Read more

This year’s crop missions, such as the ones that were recently made to the Philippines, Indonesia, Dubai and Nigeria, were intended to ease buyers’ concerns about the quality of this year’s harvest as well as specific issues such as gluten strength in Canada’s wheat crop.  |  File photo

Crop mission addresses gluten issue

Sometimes a sales call is just about reassuring customers that you’re still there and still have good products, says a farmer who represented Canada on some of the recent New Crop Missions. That’s especially true after your reputation has been knocked. “There’s still a little bit of concern about gluten strength,” said Kevin Bender of […] Read more


An analyst expects flax prices to “percolate higher over the winter” and advises growers to hang onto their crop until March.  |  File photo

EU could boost flax price

Lower maximum residue limits have slowed Black Sea region exports, opening the door for Canadian grain

The tweaking of a maximum residue limit is creating an opportunity for Canadian flax in Europe. The European Commission tightened its tolerance level for haloxyfop last summer to .01 parts per million from .1 parts per million. Haloxyfop is a Dow grass herbicide that is used extensively on flax crops in Russia and Kazakhstan but […] Read more

U.S. hog herd up four percent

The U.S. hog herd as of Dec. 1 was bigger than analysts expected, notching the highest number since 1943. The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s quarterly hogs and pigs report said the herd as of Dec. 1 was 71.5 million head, up four percent over last year. Analysts expected a herd size of 71.1 million. Pork […] Read more


Canola crush, exports on target

Canada’s canola processors should have no problem meeting Agriculture Canada’s domestic crush estimate for 2016-17. “It wouldn’t be surprising to see us reach nine million tonnes of crush in 2016-17,” said Chris Vervaet, executive director of the Canadian Oilseed Processors Association. COPA members had crushed 3.43 million tonnes as of Dec. 14, which is 419,000 […] Read more

WP livestock report

Cash hogs The U.S. national live price average for barrows and gilts was US$41.13 per hundredweight Dec. 29, little changed from $41.30 Dec. 16. U.S. hogs averaged $51.81 on a carcass basis, down from $52.95 Dec. 16. The U.S. pork cutout was $81.08 per cwt. Dec. 29. The estimated U.S. slaughter for the week to […] Read more

Canfax report

This cattle market information is selected from the weekly report from Canfax, a division of the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association. More market information, analysis and statistics are available by becoming a Canfax subscriber by calling 403-275-5110 or at www.canfax.ca. Fed Cattle Fed prices rose for a 10th consecutive period in the week ending Dec. 23 and […] Read more


Deep freeze threatens Ukraine’s winter grain crops

KIEV, Jan 5 (Reuters) – An expected sharp fall in temperatures in Ukraine could damage the country’s winter grain crops because of a lack of snow cover on the fields, analyst UkrAgroConsult said on Thursday. Meteorologists forecast a cold snap starting on Jan. 6 and predict that air temperatures will fall on average to -13 […] Read more

VIDEO: Canada’s agricultural markets update – January 4, 2017

VIDEO: Canada’s agricultural markets update – January 4, 2017

D’Arce McMillan, The Western Producer markets editor, monitors trends in the North American and global agricultural markets. Each week he hosts a market video about crops. The video is designed to help viewers understand the forces responsible for changes in the trade. If agricultural markets are important to you, we have you covered.