Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures finished Monday’s session down by their three cents/lb. daily price limit after late Friday’s cash prices fell short of expectations, traders and analysts said. Spot December finished at 127.675 cents/lb., and February at 129.65 cents (all figures US$). Live cattle’s trading limit will be expanded […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME live cattle tumble limit down
Klassen: Feedlots curb buying interest
Despair is the price one pays for setting an impossible aim. Given the phone calls over the past week, producers have been expecting something the market cannot offer. Western Canadian feeder cattle prices were under severe pressure, with 700-plus-pound cattle down $8-$12 from seven days earlier; calves under 700 lbs. traded $4-$8 below week-ago levels. […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans bounce from 6-1/2 year lows
Chicago | Reuters –– U.S. soybean futures firmed on Monday, rising from 6-1/2 year lows on bargain-buying as investors covered bearish bets amid signs of strong export demand, traders said. Corn futures also closed higher, with traders citing a round of short-covering. The gains in both commodities were kept in check by pressure from burgeoning […] Read more
Taco Bell to switch to cage-free eggs after 2016, ahead of rivals
Los Angeles | Reuters — Taco Bell said on Monday its more than 6,000 U.S. fast-food restaurants would stop using eggs laid by caged hens by Jan. 1, 2017, years ahead of the deadlines set by its bigger rivals. The announcement came amid mounting pressure on Taco Bell to remove artificial ingredients, to source products […] Read more
El Nino strengthening, to be among biggest on record: WMO
Geneva | Reuters — The El Nino weather pattern, a phenomenon associated with extreme droughts, storms and floods, is expected to strengthen before the end of the year and become one of the strongest on record, the United Nations’ weather agency said Monday. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) said this El Nino was already “strong […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Heavy meat supplies sour CME cattle, hog futures
Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures fell sharply on Friday, rounding out the week on a sour note as traders sought cover amid a steep downturn in wholesale beef prices. CME live cattle and feeder cattle futures gave back much of the gains they had made in the past two sessions, after […] Read more
U.S. grains: Corn, soy, wheat close lower, post weekly losses
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures fell on Friday on a profit-taking setback after posting gains in the previous two sessions, traders said. Soybeans closed near session lows but the declines were kept in check by technical buying as prices neared contract lows hit earlier in the week. Expectations for huge plantings in 2016 […] Read more
Cargill said restructuring, cutting jobs
London | Reuters –– Cargill Inc., one of the world’s largest privately held corporations, has launched a restructuring that includes job cuts, one company source and four industry sources said Friday, the latest casualty of a downturn in the farm economy. The 150-year-old company, a top commodities trader, is also closing offices, two of the […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME live cattle, hogs continue gains for second day
Chicago | Reuters — Livestock futures traders continued to hunt for cover on their short positions Thursday, resulting in Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures climbing a second day after prices slid to contract lows earlier this week. The Chicago Mercantile Exchange saw live cattle and feeder cattle futures on Wednesday bounce back strongly from contract […] Read more
Rookie MP named Bloc’s agriculture critic
The Bloc Quebecois has tapped a rookie Montreal-area MP from its expanded 10-member caucus to serve as its new critic for agriculture and agri-food. Simon Marcil won the newly created riding of Mirabel in last month’s election by a spread of 837 votes over Mylene Freeman, the incumbent NDP MP for Argenteuil-Papineau-Mirabel and the party’s […] Read more
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