A World Trade Organization compliance panel has ruled the U.S. government offside in its latest attempt at a trade-compliant country-of-origin labelling (COOL) law on meat. Following a long-awaited public release Monday, the ruling may give Canada and Mexico the ammunition to demand COOL be scrapped, on pain of retaliatory tariffs against a range of U.S.-made […] Read more
Revised U.S. COOL law still breaks trade rules, WTO panel finds
U.S. livestock: CME live cattle close weak; hogs higher
Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures closed down slightly on Friday after investors digested this week’s prices for market-ready or cash cattle, traders said. October closed down 0.2 cent per pound to 165.05 cents, and December 0.25 cent lower at 165.05 cents (all figures US$). Cash cattle this week sold steady […] Read more
Pork producers urged to remain vigilant for PED virus over the fall and winter
New cases of porcine epidemic diarrhea in Manitoba have Alberta producers being warned not to drop their guard
Reading Time: 4 minutes Alberta pork producers are being warned to remain vigilant about a deadly pig virus, but may face another threat — falling prices if the U.S. herd rebounds from the PEDv crisis. The province’s pork sector has been successful in keeping porcine epidemic diarrhea out of Alberta, but new cases in Manitoba in the past month […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME hogs limit-down as stock market slides
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hogs on Wednesday closed down their three-cent-per-pound maximum daily price limit led by Wall Street’s more than two per cent fall, traders and analysts said. U.S. stocks dropped on Wednesday as economic data buttressed worries over the health of the world economy and signs emerged of slowing […] Read more
Staff, hog shortages leave Canada’s pork industry squealing
Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Shortages of hogs and packing plant workers in Canada, exacerbated by recent government restrictions, may severely cut hog processing and pork exports, helping to keep North American retail pork prices near record highs. Farmers in Canada, the world’s third-biggest pork shipper, are also bracing for the spread of a deadly virus […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME feeder cattle plunge limit-down
Chicago | Reuters — Most Chicago Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle contracts closed down the maximum three-cents-per-pound daily price limit as live cattle contracts slid and corn prices climbed, traders said. Expensive feed could increase input costs for feedlot operators. “Today you’ve got the combination of lower cattle and higher corn in a thinly traded feeder […] Read more
CFIA reviewing reports of abuse at Alta. hog assembly yard
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency plans to review claims of abuse of hogs at an Alberta hog stockyard, as footage purported to show the alleged incidents makes its way toward network TV. The CTV program W5 is scheduled to air a segment Saturday night (Oct. 11) featuring hidden-camera footage supplied by the Canadian arm of […] Read more
U.S. livestock: CME live cattle end mostly lower as stocks slide
Chicago | Reuters — Most Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle contracts slumped on Friday, pressured by triple-digit Wall Street losses and a firmer U.S. dollar, traders said. U.S. stocks fell on Friday, with the tech sector weighing the most after a chip maker warned of a major pullback in the industry. Continued broader market liquidation […] Read more
U.S. sees 2015 pork output topping beef for first time in 62 years
Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. government on Friday raised its pork production forecast for the calendar year ending September 2015 that shows pork surpassing beef for the first time since 1952, as hog farmers rapidly recover from a deadly pig virus. In the monthly World Agriculture Supply and Demand Estimates (WASDE), the U.S. Department […] Read more
Manitoba hog farm ‘not truly’ PED-infected
A hog nursery/finisher operation ruled to be Manitoba’s fifth case of porcine epidemic diarrhea (PED) is now proven to have been PED-negative all along. The province’s chief veterinary office (CVO) reported Thursday that the site has now been taken off the list of confirmed on-farm cases of PED in Manitoba. The unnamed farm in Manitoba’s […] Read more
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