MarketsFarm — The condition of the bulk of the U.S. winter wheat crop, taken from data provided by 17 reporting states, was at 29 per cent fair and 48.1 per cent good at the end of January. The rest of those states’ crops stood at 4.2 very poor, 12.1 poor and 7.2 per cent excellent, […] Read more
U.S. winter wheat conditions mostly fair to good
Cargill suspends shifts at Kansas beef plant after explosion
Chicago | Reuters — Cargill said Thursday it had suspended some shifts at its Dodge City, Kansas beef-packing plant after an explosion injured two employees. Cargill spokesman Daniel Sullivan said the company expects the facility to be fully operational soon and that it would meet all it customer commitments. The company is investigating the cause […] Read more
USDA to probe beef market after Tyson plant fire
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue ordered an investigation into widening prices between cattle and beef on Wednesday after a recent fire at a Tyson Foods slaughterhouse in Holcomb, Kansas, shut the plant. Cattle prices have tanked because the fire temporarily eliminated a key buyer of livestock. Producers have worried that meat […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle futures limit down again on Tyson fire
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures plunged to multiyear lows on Tuesday, with some contract months for both live cattle and fed cattle ending at their daily trading limits for the second day in a row. Traders said the market continued to weigh the impact of a fire at a key […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Cattle limit down after Tyson beef plant burns
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange cattle futures dropped their daily trading limits on Monday after a fire at a major beef plant threatened to limit demand for the animals for months, traders said. Live cattle prices settled at their lowest since July 3 while feeder cattle contract dropped to their lowest since June […] Read more
Marfrig to buy control of U.S.-based National Beef
Sao Paulo | Reuters –– Brazil’s Marfrig Global Foods said Monday it would buy control of Kansas City-based National Beef Packing for US$969 million, in a deal that would make it the world’s No. 2 beef processor. Marfrig also said it was seeking to sell an existing U.S. unit, Keystone Food. The proceeds will be […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat tumbles as rains cross drought-hit Plains
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat futures slid to six-week lows on Monday as much-needed rain and snow fell in dry areas of the southern Plains, pushing most-active K.C. hard red winter wheat futures down more than five per cent, traders said. Corn and soybean futures sagged on fund-driven long liquidation and as weekend rains […] Read more
U.S. grains: Wheat hits seven-month high on crop ratings
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. wheat prices rose to roughly seven-month highs on Tuesday as low crop ratings and limited chances of rain in drought-hit parts of the Plains growing region kept attention on the risk of yield losses. The gains were fueled by U.S. Department of Agriculture data released late on Monday that rated […] Read more
New Year’s Day cold snap to hit U.S. winter wheat, rivers
Chicago | Reuters — A New Year’s Day cold snap in the southern U.S. Plains poses a threat to winter wheat, particularly in Kansas, the country’s biggest producer of the grain, agricultural meteorologists said. Farmers in Kansas grow hard red winter (HRW) wheat, the largest U.S. wheat class that typically is milled into flour for […] Read more
Syngenta agrees to settle GMO corn litigation
Reuters — Syngenta has agreed to pay close to US$1.5 billion to resolve lawsuits stemming from its decision to commercialize a genetically modified strain of corn before China approved importing it, a person familiar with the matter said on Tuesday. The Swiss company confirmed that it has reached a settlement, without confirming the financial terms. […] Read more
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