CNS Canada — Soybean and corn futures at the Chicago Board of Trade are both keeping rangebound as attention shifts from last week’s U.S. Department of Agriculture supply/demand report to South American growing conditions. During the week ended Wednesday the December corn contract rose 2.5 cents, to $3.485 per bushel (all figures US$). On the […] Read more
CBOT weekly outlook: Corn, soy steady as attention turns to South America
JBS owners ‘profited’ from inside information, Brazil police say
Brasilia | Reuters — Brazil’s police investigation into insider trading by the owners of the world’s largest meatpacker JBS SA has found that they made a profit by taking financial positions before details of their plea bargain deal with prosecutors became public, the head of the probe said Tuesday. Police chief Edson Garutti, told Globo […] Read more
Brazil formally accuses JBS owners of insider trading
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s federal police on Thursday formally asked prosecutors to bring charges against brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista, the owners of meatpacker JBS SA, for insider trading. The Batista brothers saved as much as 138 million reais (C$54 million) through allegedly illegal market dealings in May, police said. The insider trading […] Read more
Brazilian state bank lambastes JBS CEO switch
Rio de Janeiro/Sao Paulo | Reuters — JBS SA’s weekend move to replace the Brazilian company’s jailed chief executive with his father showed “deviousness” and left in place a situation of “terrible governance” at the world’s No. 1 meatpacker, the head of state development bank BNDES said on Monday, In remarks to Reuters, BNDES president […] Read more
Brazil police detain JBS CEO
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s federal police on Wednesday detained the chief executive of JBS SA, the world’s No. 1 meatpacker, saying he used insider information to avoid hefty losses related to a plea bargain he signed earlier this year. Wesley Batista, who has been at the helm of JBS since 2011, was detained […] Read more
JBS still seeks U.S. unit IPO
Sao Paulo | Reuters — JBS SA will proceed with plans to list a U.S.-based unit when market conditions allow, as the world’s No. 1 meatpacker wrestles with a shareholder revolt over the role of the controlling Batista family in a massive graft scandal. In a Tuesday conference call to discuss second-quarter results, CEO Wesley […] Read more
JBS taps BNP Paribas for Moy Park sale
Sao Paulo / Reuters – JBS SA, the world’s No. 2 food processor, has picked BNP Paribas SA to help sell Moy Park Ltd, which the company has put on the block, a person with direct knowledge of the matter said on Monday. JBS, whose controlling family has been ensnared in a corruption scandal, announced […] Read more
Dow to sell part of Brazil corn seed business
Reuters — Dow Chemical said it had agreed to sell a portion of its corn seed business in Brazil to a unit of China’s CITIC Ltd. for US$1.1 billion as it seeks to gain approval for its merger with DuPont from the country’s antitrust regulator. The divestiture includes seed processing plants and seed research centers, […] Read more
Canada, other countries raise meat inspection bar for Brazil
Winnipeg/Chicago | Reuters — Meat-importing countries from North America to Europe and Asia have tightened inspection standards for shipments from Brazil in a bid to protect consumers, following a probe into possible corruption involving inspectors. The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) said on Wednesday that the tighter inspection standards it enacted in April have resulted […] Read more
Brazil farm minister heads to U.S. over fresh beef ban
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s agriculture minister prepared to travel to the U.S. on Friday to fight a ban on imports of fresh Brazilian beef, which hit shares of local meatpackers and revived concerns about the image of the world’s largest beef exporter. “We will fight for this market!” said the minister, billionaire soy […] Read more