Tag Archives Commodities — page 8

I’m glad I’ve been noting how overwhelmingly bearish I am about the markets for the second half of 2011. Even on Wednesday, when I was trying to find reasons to be bullish, I was halfhearted, because I just couldn’t find a lot of reasons to think commodities would avoid being pulled down by the pile […] Read more

I’m a bear in the present ag market and world, but I like to contemplate the bull side, just in case I’m wrong. So here, from the drunken and wildly swinging shotgun of the market commentary community, come shooting some reasons to be bullish for the second half of 2011: 1) The U.S. debt and […] Read more

Allow me to be momentarily and patriotically triumphalist as I peruse these two recent headlines: (U.S.) SENATE EXPECTED TO PASS DEBT PLAN TO AVERT DEFAULT (Bloomberg News, today) MOODY’S PRAISES CANADA’S RESILIENCY, RENEWS TRIPLE-A RATING (The Globe and Mail, Friday) Yes, it’s true, we in the True north are solvent, creditworthy and sane, and the […] Read more

Anyone who knows me knows that I am bearish about the second half of 2011 in the world stock, commodity and agricultural markets. Since I’m not in the business of making market calls, I don’t offer advice on what to do about that, and since I’m not always or even generally right, that’s a good […] Read more

Lots of stories I write get no response at all. That’s normal in the news biz. Some stuff gets a tonne of response. I’ve had two of those recently, both dealing with the Canadian Wheat Board. I wrote a column about the endless debate over the CWB monopolies and what a tragedy it was that […] Read more

Yesterday I drove down to Altona for the sod-turning for the expansion that will double the production of the Bunge crushing plant there. (I didn’t make it to the sod-turning. That’s a different story!) All along the road I saw golden fields of canola, most of which will – if harvested in OK condition – […] Read more

Remember years ago, when canola was always referred to as the “Cinderella crop.” I think that had something about it coming from nowhere and winning everyone over at the ball. From non-existence it has emerged to become prairie farmers’ number one most loved crop, the first crop on every farmer’s valentine’s list. As the father […] Read more

Is this summer’s canola crop a disaster? Is it a terrific crop that looks perfect? Is it patchy? Is it late? Is it suffering from wet feet? Is it doing surprisingly well after a bad beginning? Is it worse than expected, but hiding its ugliness under a green and yellow canopy? These are all questions […] Read more

From what I can tell, the Manitoba feedgrains market is in peril on the demand side, and that’s because of provincial legislation and nasty political calculation. Manitoba’s heading into a fall provincial election, and the reigning NDP is showing all the signs of repeatedly targeting and scapegoating the hog industry as a way of appealing […] Read more

My hip is hurting because my Blackberry has been buzzing so much with all the synchronized news releases coming from the anti-CWB movement today. It’s like I’ve got a bee on my hip here. 10:41 a.m.: News release from the Grain Growers of Canada: “Grain Growers of Canada believe the British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan […] Read more