Winnipeg/Beijing | Reuters — A political dispute between China and Canada over the arrest of a Huawei executive is slowing canola shipments through Chinese ports and causing some importers to hesitate to buy from their biggest supplier, according to interviews with a dozen traders. Since Canadian authorities arrested Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in […] Read more

Canadian canola runs into Chinese delays after Huawei arrest

Bankrupt oil firms must clean up inactive wells, Supreme Court rules
Ottawa/Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada’s Supreme Court ruled on Thursday that bankrupt oil companies must clean up inactive wells, overturning lower court decisions that prioritized paying creditors and potentially raising the risks of investment in the industry. The 5-2 ruling means that the Alberta Energy Regulator (AER), which had appealed the earlier court decisions, can […] Read more

Rail now moving fluidly through Vancouver, CN says
Winnipeg | Reuters — Congestion at Port Metro Vancouver, Canada’s busiest port, has been resolved and rail operations are now “fluid,” Canadian National Railway said Friday. Canadian National and rival Canadian Pacific Railway were rationing space on trains travelling in the Vancouver area and prioritized some commodities over others to deal with congestion, causing complaints […] Read more

Railways ration space as commodity congestion problems worsen
Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada’s two major railways are rationing space on trains traveling to the country’s biggest port and recently prioritized some commodities over others to deal with congestion, the latest indication of their struggle to meet demand from new trade deals. That move prompted Canada’s transport regulator last week to start an investigation […] Read more

Pacific pact spurs Canadian ag sales to Japan as U.S. watches
Winnipeg | Reuters — At the Canadian embassy in Tokyo last month, beef promoters flew in a chef from Canada to cook New York strip steaks for hungry Japanese importers and restaurant suppliers. The annual Canadian beef buffet reception attracted 126 people, up sharply from the usual 30 to 40. A trade deal among Pacific […] Read more

U.S. dairy farmers get little help from Canada trade deal
Madison, Wisconsin/St. Claude, Manitoba | Reuters – Minnesota farmer Paul Fritsche can no longer afford health insurance as he struggles to sustain a dairy farm that has been in his family for nearly a century. With U.S. milk prices in the fourth year of a slump due to chronic oversupply, Fritsche, 58, is unsure whether […] Read more

Canadian farmers race to reap wheat while sun shines, but damage done
Winnipeg | Reuters – Sunny skies may allow Canadian farmers to swiftly make up for harvest delays this week, wrapping up a nightmarish season for some. But while the harvest is finally on its way in the third-biggest wheat-exporting country, weather troubles look to dent farm incomes due to quality problems that are also forcing […] Read more

Fear, frustration on dairy farms as trade concessions sought
Winnipeg/Montreal | Reuters — Marie-Pier Vincent, a fourth-generation Quebec dairy farmer, worries it will be even harder to make ends meet if Canada allows more tariff-free imports of milk products from the U.S. under a reworked North American Free Trade Agreement. Vincent, 28, is already looking for a second job to pay back the money […] Read more

Prairies’ dry weather may stem U.S. cattle stampede north
Winnipeg | Reuters — Parched pastures and crops in Western Canada are driving up cattle-feeding costs, and farmers and analysts expect the changing economics to stem a recent stampede of U.S. cattle being brought over the border. Canada imported 65,035 head of cattle from the U.S. from January through June, nearly double the pace of […] Read more

Nutrien steers potash recovery as BHP waits in wings
Winnipeg/London | Reuters — Canada’s Nutrien, the world’s biggest potash miner by capacity, has helped engineer a surprising price rebound for the fertilizer by idling capacity. Now the trick will be keeping prices from appreciating too much to ensure a major would-be competitor, BHP Billiton, stays on the sidelines. BHP has been weighing an entry […] Read more