Tag Archives Commodities

Volatility is the big thing in the markets this year and lots of people were talking volatility at GrainWorld this year. In the grain and livestock markets, volatility has been great, although nothing yet to compare to 2008. Farmers aren’t complaining much yet because the volatility has been on the generally-going-higher side of the overall […] Read more

Richard Andersen of Informa Economics in Memphis is giving an outlook that isn’t particularly happy or bullish for hog prices. High corn prices are threatening margins and making high consumption necessary, something that relies on pork product sellers not increasing retail prices too much to financially-strapped consumers. Anderson sounds skeptical that combination will work out […] Read more

Jerry Klassen, described below, said he thinks cattle prices won’t keep rising and there are already signs that consumer demand is slipping. “The market is starting to ration demand at these higher levels,” said Klassen. Beef prices are rising higher than consumer spending increases at supermarkets, and that can’t continue. He thinks cattle prices will […] Read more

Non-price factors are very important for the beef market. Non-price factors are very important for the beef market. Non-price factors are very important for the beef market. Got it? That’s the take-home message analyst Jerry Klassen wants you to get from the presentation he’s giving right now. He said something interesting and revealing about cattle […] Read more

A Uruguayan zero till farmer is speaking to GrainWorld about how zero tillage has taken over that nation’s commercial farming, at the same time as total acreage there has quickly expanded. Miguel Carballal said Uruguayan farmers have gone from farming less than one million acres in 2001 to 3.2 million acres today. Asian demand for […] Read more

Hear much about zinc deficiency in soils, crops and people? Me neither. But it’s a gigantic world problem, afflicting all of Asia, Australasia, Africa and Latin America – causing hundreds of thousands of child deaths per years in developing countries. It’s not a big problem here in northern North America, according to Turkish scientist Ismail […] Read more

A panel has just begun on the subject of the role of research in agriculture and its rewards. Philip Pardey of the University of Minnesota has been speaking about the history of Malthusian thinking, which is the perennial doom chorus that sees massive starvation coming and the world running out of food. From the late […] Read more

A big bank economist is a good choice for a breakfast economic briefing, because they tend to be optimistic and almost always see growth ahead. That’s the view of Carlos Gomes of the Bank of Nova Scotia, who is speaking right now to the GrainWorld Tuesday breakfast. “We are in a synchronized expansion,” Gomes said. […] Read more

All we hear about in North America is how lucky corn growers are to have booming ethanol production. But Nicholas Hoyt, a trader and risk management specialist with Bunge in Canada, pointed out to people at GrainWorld that European biodiesel demand is consuming so much of that continent’s oilseed crops that Canadian canola is actually […] Read more

The 2011-12 PROs were just released at GrainWorld by CWB analyst Neil Townsend. #1 CWRS 13.5 for 2011-12 is $352 per tonne, down $1 per tonne from the 2010-11 PRO. Most wheat prices are about the same as with the present 2010-11 PRO. Durum for 2011-12 is $374 or $10.18 per bushel for #1 CWAD […] Read more