NEW YORK (Reuters) — The U.S. weather forecaster on Thursday maintained its forecast for a 50 percent to 60 percent chance of El Nino during the Northern Hemisphere winter and early spring, with neutral conditions thereafter. The Climate Prediction Center, an agency of the national Weather Service, in its monthly report kept its outlook unchanged […] Read more
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U.S. weather forecaster maintains forecast for weak El Nino
U.S. lawmaker says Japan and Canada must cut farm tariffs
WASHINGTON (Reuters) — Canada and Japan must open their markets to farm imports under a Pacific trade pact, the chairman of a congressional committee responsible for trade said on Thursday, adding that any country that cannot meet the deal’s ambitious goals should drop out. In prepared remarks, House Ways and Means Committee chairman Paul Ryan […] Read more
UPOV 91 demands detailed records from seed cleaners
Seed cleaning plants will have to keep extensive records if they want to stay ahead of the law once UPOV 91 comes into effect, said a seed official. Lorne Hadley, executive director of the Canadian Plant Technology Agency, said seed cleaning plants will have to ensure that they don’t accidentally clean a protected seed variety […] Read more
Supply worries drop CME lean hogs to 5-year low; live cattle lower, feeders down sharply
By Theopolis Waters CHICAGO, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hogs fell to their lowest level in five years Wednesday as abundant supplies of heavyweight hogs pressured cash prices and hurt wholesale pork demand, traders said. “We’re simply supply-bearish,” said U.S. Commodities analyst Don Roose. Market-ready, or cash, hogs in the Midwest sold […] Read more
Recent strength in CBOT corn, beans to be short lived
Winnipeg, Feb. 4 – Corn and soybean futures on the Chicago Board of Trade ended mostly higher during the week ended Feb. 4. Soybean futures saw slight gains, while the advances in corn were more exaggerated. A sharp rally on Feb. 3 lifted both markets to end higher for the week, with speculative short covering […] Read more
Contract negotiators for U.S. West Coast ports hit snag
By Steve Gorman LOS ANGELES, Feb 4 (Reuters) – Shipping companies and terminal operators for 29 U.S. West Coast ports appeared to have hit a snag on Wednesday in protracted labor negotiations with the dockworkers’ union, calling a news conference to publicly address the status of the talks. The negotiations, joined in recent weeks by […] Read more
Large Canadian canola stocks top expectations
WINNIPEG — Statistics Canada released its Canadian stocks estimates as of Dec. 31, 2014, and the report was mostly bearish for canola. The canola stocks figure, at 11.103 million tonnes, was at the high end of expectations, surpassing what some people were anticipating. “I’m not sure if that means that StatsCan’s production number for 2014 […] Read more
Ritz tackles COOL issue in Washington
Federal agriculture minister Gerry Ritz has announced another visit to Washington, D.C., to discuss U.S. Country of Origin Labelling (COOL) and to seek changes to make it trade compliant. Ritz and delegates from the Canadian Cattlemen’s Association, Canadian Pork Council and Canadian Meat Council are scheduled to be in the American capitol this week. They […] Read more
Sizzling U.S. burger demand a boon for New Zealand dairy farmers
WELLINGTON (Reuters) — Supersized U.S. demand for burgers is a godsend for New Zealand farmers who have been struggling with weak dairy prices but are now earning good money for cows sent to slaughter for beef. Years of low cattle supplies have kept U.S. beef import prices near a record high of around US$3.00 per […] Read more
ADM-Glencore grain port venture to shuffle Brazil grain flows
CHICAGO (Reuters) — Plans by commodities trading rivals Archer Daniels Midland Co. and Glencore PLC to jointly develop an export terminal in northern Brazil promise to shift grain flows both within South America’s largest producer and to Asian importers. ADM will give Glencore 50 percent in its Barcarena export terminal in Brazil’s Para state, it […] Read more
