U.S. President Donald Trump appears with China’s President Xi Jinping at the start of their bilateral meeting at the G20 leaders summit in Osaka on June 29, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Kevin Lamarque)

U.S. farmers suffer ‘body blow’ as China slams door on farm purchases

Beijing | Reuters — Chinese companies have stopped buying U.S. agricultural products, China’s commerce ministry said on Tuesday, a blow to U.S. farmers who have already seen their exports slashed by the more than year-old trade war. China may impose additional tariffs on U.S. farm products bought shortly before the purchase ban took effect, China’s […] Read more

CME October 2019 lean hogs (candlesticks) and October live cattle (line). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Hog futures swing wildly as trade war intensifies

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) livestock futures swung wildly on Monday, with the most-active October lean hog futures going nearly limit-up and -down in the same trading session, amid growing tensions in the U.S.-China trade war. China’s commerce ministry said that Chinese companies have stopped buying U.S. agricultural products, and that China […] Read more


CBOT November 2019 soybeans (candlestick) and December 2019 corn (line). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn futures rally on weather concerns

Chicago | Reuters — Volatility roiled the commodity grain futures markets on Monday, as uncertainty in the U.S. weather forecast supported corn and the growing tensions in the U.S.-China trade war weighed on soybeans. Wheat futures ended the day up on technical buying, traders said. China’s commerce ministry said that Chinese companies have stopped buying […] Read more




Pork accounts for nearly two-thirds of China’s meat consumption and with African swine fever decimating Chinese production, Canada’s pork sector had hoped to see its exports to China jump rather than be banned. Pictured here are pork vendors at a market in Yunnan province in May.

Livestock sector suspicious of China ban but hopeful

Politics, not fraud, may be behind latest Chinese ban of our exports but officials hopeful it can be resolved

Reading Time: 4 minutes Some sort of fraud or more payback from China? That’s the question facing Canadian pork and beef producers after Beijing banned their products last month. As was the case with canola seed, the official Chinese explanation is that it halted imports because of contamination issues — “pests” in canola and the growth promotant ractopamine in […] Read more






CBOT September 2019 corn futures with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn, soy gain as market wrestles with export, crop prospects

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago corn and soybean futures settled up on Friday as investors weighed trade talks between the United States and China and expected cooler U.S. weather against uncertainty over acreage levels following a rain-soaked spring. Some analysts said there may be some technical buying pushing up futures, especially soybeans. They also looked […] Read more