Brasilia | Reuters — Brazil’s meatpacking industry has been badly damaged by a police investigation into alleged unsanitary and corrupt practices, and could lose upward of 10 per cent of its global market share, Agriculture Minister Blairo Maggi said Wednesday. Maggi told a Senate committee that the main concern was with the China and Hong […] Read more
Brazil fears lost market share for meat industry
U.S. grains: Crop prospects drag on soybeans
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures weakened on Wednesday, with prospects for bumper harvests in South America and record U.S. plantings weighing on the beaten-down market, traders said. Corn and wheat futures also closed in negative territory. Both grains have fallen for three days in a row. The outlook for rain in the U.S. […] Read more
Brazil ag ministry, police say meat problems not widespread
Lapa, Brazil | Reuters — Brazil’s federal police and agriculture ministry said late Tuesday that sanitary and corruption problems found in the nation’s meatpacking industry were isolated incidents, an attempt to tamp down a scandal that has led the Latin American nation’s biggest export markets to ban its meats. Since police launched raids on processing […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat, corn fall to multi-week lows
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures dropped to their lowest level in more than six weeks on Tuesday, their second straight day of declines, as weather forecasts bolstered expectations for strong yields adding to already-abundant supplies in the coming weeks, traders said. Corn futures also fell, hitting their lowest since Feb. 1, on pressure […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Deferred cattle hit contract highs
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures were mostly higher on Monday, with deferred months for both live and feeder cattle hitting contract highs on spreading and investment fund buying, traders and analysts said. Lean hog futures were largely lower, extending losses to the fourth straight session in a technical selloff. Most-active CME […] Read more
Brazil beef scandal leaves fewer options for global buyers
Chicago | Reuters –– Global beef buyers will likely need to cobble together supplies from several nations if a scandal persists in Brazil’s meat sector because supply constraints and politics are already limiting trade flows, market analysts said Monday. China suspended imports of all meat products from Brazil, the world’s top beef exporter, as a […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat drops on outlook for Plains rains
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures fell on Monday, led lower by a 1.9 per cent drop in K.C. hard red winter wheat amid forecasts for improving weather for crop development in key U.S. growing areas. “The U.S. Plains were dry over the weekend, but the next precip(itation) chance is on the way later […] Read more
Brazilian meatpackers slump on import curbs
Sao Paulo/Beijing | Reuters — Fallout from a meatpacking industry scandal in Brazil, the world’s biggest exporter of beef and poultry, widened on Monday as China, the EU, South Korea and Chile curtailed meat imports from the country after inspectors were accused of taking bribes to allow sales of tainted food. With other import curbs […] Read more
Brazil police raid BRF, JBS meat plants in bribery probe
Sao Paulo/Curitiba, Brazil | Reuters — Brazilian police raided the premises of global meatpacking companies JBS SA and BRF SA on Friday, as well as dozens of smaller rivals, in a crackdown on alleged bribery of health officials that could threaten US$12 billion in annual exports. The probe, known as “Operation Weak Flesh,” found evidence […] Read more
JBS sees margins up in 2017 as feed, cattle costs fall
Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazilian meatpacking giant JBS SA expects profit margins to improve over the course of this year, CEO Wesley Batista said on Tuesday, as lower cattle and feed costs and healthier markets ease the pressures that hurt 2016 results. JBS shares rose two per cent in Sao Paulo despite lower-than-expected earnings […] Read more
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