Livestock
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. livestock futures on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) plunged by their daily trading limits on Wednesday as stricter coronavirus emergency measures hammered stock markets and deepened worries about a global recession. Live cattle futures dropped for the fourth time in five sessions, erasing all of the prior session’s gains, while […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle, hogs limit down on coronavirus fears
Market has to 'reevaluate' supply/demand picture
U.S. senators scrutinize meat packers’ profits during pandemic
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. senators are calling for investigations of record profit margins for beef processors such as Tyson Foods and Cargill, after ranchers complained surging meat prices due to coronavirus hoarding did not translate into higher cattle prices. Futures prices for cattle have tumbled during the outbreak, worrying farmers as the U.S. economy […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle futures jump in end-of-month, -quarter rebound
Lean hog futures up in most months
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. live cattle futures rallied by as much as the daily three-cent trading limit on Tuesday in an end-of-month and end-of-quarter profit-taking bounce following a steep drop fueled by concerns about the fast-spreading coronavirus and its economic impact. The recent dive in prices as governments imposed stay-at-home orders and restrictions on […] Read more
Klassen: Feeder market experiences fortuitous bounce
Last week, the feeder market started on a very sluggish tone. Buyers were sitting back waiting for the market to establish direction. By Friday, yearling prices were up $2-$4 compared to seven days earlier, while calves were trading $4 to as much as $8 above week-ago levels. Cow-calf producers and backgrounding operators have been holding […] Read more
COVID-19 strains already-battered Ontario beef industry
Limited processing capacity remains financial challenge for province's feedlot sector, despite recent increase in retail demand
Ontario’s beef industry was already in the midst of an economic crisis, but COVID-19 is worsening the financial toll on the province’s cattle feeders. Due to extremely limited processing plant capacity, an uncompetitive market and disruptions to trade and market access, Ontario’s beef industry was losing an average of more than $2 million per week […] Read more
U.S. livestock: April hogs limit down, cattle ease
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures on Monday sank by an expanded daily limit and cattle futures weakened on increased concerns that slaughterhouses will close due to the spread of the COVID-19 coronavirus. Traders worry that shutdowns could back up supplies of livestock by removing markets for the animals. Canada’s largest hog producer, […] Read more
COVID-19 cases shut Olymel hog slaughter plant
Facility in Quebec's Mauricie region to close for two weeks
The COVID-19 coronavirus has made its way into the labour pool at a major pork packing plant in Quebec’s Mauricie region, forcing a two-week shutdown. Olymel, the meat packing arm of Quebec-based Sollio Co-operative Group, announced Sunday it will temporarily close its hog slaughter and cutting plant at Yamachiche, about 20 km west of Trois-Rivieres, […] Read more
Pet food investment firm buys Ontario raw food maker
Tollden Farms to join United Raw Pet Foods
A Toronto-area investment firm billed as “the pet industry’s merchant bank” has bought control of its fifth Canadian maker of frozen raw pet foods in three years. Mississauga-based Dane Creek Capital Corp., the 70 per cent controlling shareholder in United Raw Pet Foods, announced Thursday that United Raw has bought Tollden Farms of Kemptville, Ont. […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog, cattle futures dive as volatile trade continues
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures tumbled on Friday, with several contracts falling the expanded daily limit of 4.5 U.S. cents/lb. on worries about a slowdown in demand for pork and fears that the coronavirus could shutter slaughterhouses, potentially backing up hog supplies, traders said. Chicago Mercantile Exchange June lean hog futures settled […] Read more
Alberta’s Harmony Beef halts slaughter on positive COVID-19 test
CFIA pulls inspectors after plant employee tests positive
Ottawa/Winnipeg | Reuters — Harmony Beef, an Alberta packing plant, halted cattle slaughter on Friday after the Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) kept some inspectors from work, due to a positive test for COVID-19 by a Harmony worker, the company said. The partial closure follows a positive COVID-19 test by a worker at U.S. chicken […] Read more
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