Crop prices could be in a period of weakness until some weather scare develops, as it often does sometime during the Northern Hemisphere’s growing season. However, attention is now fixed on the bumper harvest that Brazilian farmers are gathering. The U.S. Department of Agriculture last week increased its forecast for Brazil’s soybean crop to a […] Read more
Tag Archives Market Watch
China’s soaring pork exports ride to rescue in 2016
China was a strong importer of pork in 2016, helping to shore up producers’ incomes in Canada and United States. Last week, Ed White reported on how the North American hog industry dodged a bullet in the fourth quarter of 2016. The industry had forecast that the number of market-ready hogs in the U.S. would […] Read more
Ratio favours soybeans over corn
The hot reaction to Argentina’s excessive rain problem cooled last week, causing soybean futures to give back some of their gains, but they are still attractive relative to corn. Farmers are working on their crop budgets and determining seeding plans for 2017. The supply-demand picture for canola looks favourable for an increase in seeded area […] Read more
Wheat surplus may drop, boosting prices in 2017
Wheat futures are edging higher in early 2017, and the crop has generated some market talk. The gist is that wheat prices have been in the doghouse for so long that they might be due for an improvement. There is some reason for this hope, but the crystal ball view is clouded by a lot […] Read more
Shortage of quality wheat finally stirs up market
The March Minneapolis spring wheat contract moved into an inverse last week, indicating stronger demand for quality wheat. There is lots of wheat in the world, but many production areas had weather problems that hurt protein or damaged quality. The Minneapolis spring wheat contract reflects the value of quality spring wheat with 13.5 percent protein […] Read more
Canola prices, demand rosy; wheat not so much
The rising Canadian dollar is likely having a greater impact on Canadian crop markets than the final Statistics Canada production report of the year. The agency’s crop size estimates issued Dec. 6 had no shocking discrepancies from what the trade expected. There were minor differences from a pre-report survey of analysts, but not enough to […] Read more
China’s dockage issue stalls early season exports
The evidence is in on how much the China canola dockage issue hurt exports of the oilseed. Canada shipped only 80,000 tonnes of canola to China in September compared to 314,211 tonnes in the same month in 2015 and 280,539 in 2014, according to Statistics Canada September trade data released last week. August shipments to […] Read more
Unharvested acreage risk drives canola futures higher
Canola futures have rallied this month to reflect the difficulties in the prairie harvest and support from stronger soy oil values. As of Oct. 10, 23 percent of Saskatchewan’s canola acreage had not yet been harvested, according to the province’s agriculture department. That means more than two million acres of canola are still in the […] Read more
U.S. hog slaughter nearing capacity, prices still falling
December hog futures prices dipped below US41.5 cents per pound last week, the lowest level since the fall of 2009 on a continuous chart. Our reporter Ed White had a story in the Sept. 22 paper about the most worrisome autumn for hog producers in 16 years. The hog herd in the United States has […] Read more
Feedlot closure is part of bigger economic picture
Livestock futures markets were slammed lower again last week with fed cattle and hogs each testing multi-year lows. There is just too much meat on the market — pork and beef. October live cattle futures fell to 98.900 cents per pound Sept. 30, the lowest point on a continuous chart since November 2010. Chicago October […] Read more
