Washington/Chicago | Reuters — U.S. pork exporters will soon be free to ship meat to Argentina for the first time in 26 years after the two countries thrashed out an agreement to overturn an Argentinian import ban. The deal is a sliver of good news for U.S. farmers facing trade tariffs and disruption to exports […] Read more

U.S. to export pork to Argentina after 26 years

U.S. livestock: CME lean hogs jump on short-covering
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures rallied more than three per cent on Monday in a short-covering and bargain-buying rebound from life-of-contract lows posted last week, traders said. Some contracts, including actively-traded June, rose by as much as the daily three-cent limit as a steady slide in prices over the past […] Read more

Pork producers tackle new challenges, opportunities in 2018
CNS Canada — Pork producers in Western Canada are still grappling with old problems even as new opportunities present themselves in the export market, according to presenters at the Manitoba Pork Council’s annual general meeting Thursday in Winnipeg. Canadian pork exports in 2017 totaled 1.29 billion tonnes to a tune of $4 billion. On its […] Read more

Tariffs raise tough questions for pork industry
CNS Canada — Representatives from the two largest pork-exporting states in the U.S. were in Winnipeg Thursday to take in the Manitoba Pork Council’s general meeting. The delegates, who hailed from Iowa and Minnesota, talked about the various challenges facing their industry. In 2017, over a quarter of the U.S. pork industry’s C$6.5 billion market […] Read more

U.S. meat groups fear for market growth with China beef tariff hike
Chicago | Reuters — China’s proposal on Wednesday for tariffs on U.S. beef confirmed the worst-case scenario for the U.S. cattle industry, trade groups said Wednesday, even as they remained hopeful the dispute could be resolved quickly. China listed U.S. goods from soybeans to beef that could potentially incur a 25 per cent import tariff […] Read more

U.S. March hog herd hits record high
Chicago | Reuters — The number of hogs on U.S. farms in the December-February quarter was up 3.1 per cent from the same period a year ago, a record high for the quarter, according to Thursday’s U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) report. Farmers added extra pigs, encouraged by less-costly feed during that period and the […] Read more

U.S. pork to feel further chill from China tariff threat
Beijing/Chicago | Reuters — China’s threat of steep tariffs on U.S. pork imports knocked down U.S. hog futures prices and shares of producers on Friday, while increasing fears of hard times for farmers already facing weaker demand from the world’s top buyer of the meat. U.S. farmers have worried for months that rising trade tensions […] Read more

Loose housing improvement for sows wins Aherne prize
Reading Time: < 1 minute An isolation crate developed for an Alberta sow farm is one of two winners of this year’s F. X. Aherne Prize for Innovative Pork Production. The prize, named in honour of the late Frank Aherne, a professor of swine nutrition at the University of Alberta, is awarded for innovative solutions to production challenges. Sunterra Farms […] Read more

Pork exports key in 2018 as U.S. slaughter ramps up
CNS Canada –– Canadian pork producers should see higher returns for their product in the spring of 2018, but whether those prices last may determine how successful Canada is at tapping new markets. According to U.S. Department of Agriculture supply estimates, weekly U.S. hog slaughter numbers over the past two months have averaged 2.369 million […] Read more

U.S. livestock: CME cattle drop daily limit on lower cash market sales
Chicago | Reuters – Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures fell sharply on Friday and hit daily trading limits on weaker cash market prices and easing concerns that frigid weather in feedlot areas could disrupt marketings. Fund selling, or “rolling,” of lead-month positions into deferred months ahead of similar moves early next week added pressure. […] Read more