Beijing | Reuters — China’s grains imports soared to record highs in 2020, customs data showed on Monday, after tight domestic corn supplies pushed prices to multi-year peaks, driving demand for cheaper imports. China, the world’s top agricultural market, bought a record 11.3 million tonnes of imported corn last year, including 2.25 million tonnes in […] Read more
China’s 2020 corn, wheat imports reach record highs
China’s 2020 pork output higher than expected
Reported slowing of ASF-induced decline beats expectations
Beijing | Reuters — China’s pork output posted significant signals toward recovery last year after the sector was decimated by an incurable hog disease in 2019, official data showed Monday. China’s 2020 pork output fell 3.3 per cent from a year earlier, to 41.13 million tonnes, after plunging 21 per cent in 2019, the National […] Read more
USDA unveils more COVID-19 aid, mostly for livestock farmers
Funds earmarked for farmers under contract
Chicago | Reuters — The U.S. Department of Agriculture said on Friday it will pay an additional US$2.3 billion in COVID-19 aid to farmers, directing more money to livestock producers suffering from disruptions in slaughtering and restaurant demand for meat. The aid, which comes from money allocated to USDA from previous pandemic stimulus legislation, follows […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog, cattle futures rise on bargain buying
Chicago | Reuters — CME live cattle futures rose on Friday on some bargain buying but still posted their first weekly loss in five weeks, traders said. Bargain buying also supported hog futures, which had posted lower closes in seven of the previous eight sessions. Signs of weakness in the cash markets kept a lid […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Live cattle sink on profit-taking, technical selling
Lean hogs, feeder cattle mixed
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. cattle futures fell on Monday in a profit-taking and technical-selling setback amid concerns about weaker demand for cattle and beef, traders said. Position rolling by funds, as they closed out long positions in the spot month and bought deferred contracts on the second day of the five-session “Goldman roll” period, […] Read more
Beleaguered pork producers consider move to single desk
After years of losses, many will abandon the sector if things don’t change, says Alberta Pork
Reading Time: 3 minutes When it was wheat, Alberta led the fight to get rid of single-desk selling. But it’s a very different story when it comes to pork. Two-thirds of Alberta Pork producers voted in favour of investigating a single-desk marketing system similar to Quebec at their virtual annual general meeting held November 23. Thirty per cent voted […] Read more
China drives surge in pork exports
Reading Time: < 1 minute Thanks to surging sales to China, pork exports were up by more than 18 per cent in volume (nearly 21 per cent by value) from January to September, says provincial livestock market analyst Jason Wood. Total year-to-date pork exports were $3.75 billion (1.1 million tonnes), with China accounting for close to half of that — […] Read more
Tyson fires seven managers after probe into COVID-19 wagering
Employees had been suspended following lawsuit
Reuters — Tyson Foods said Wednesday it had fired seven managers at an Iowa pork plant after investigating allegations that they took bets on how many employees would catch COVID-19. The independent investigation, led by former U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, came in response to a lawsuit filed by the son of a worker at […] Read more
U.S. livestock: Hog futures rally on technical buying
February live cattle futures lower
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. lean hog futures rose 3.8 per cent on Monday, notching their biggest daily gain since September, in a technical bounce from the three-week low they hit on Friday, traders said. “We hit the bottom end of the range so we are just bouncing back,” said Don Roose, president of brokerage […] Read more
Pork genomics project gets $1 million
Reading Time: < 1 minute University of Alberta professor, Michael Dyck has been awarded a $1-million grant for a project that will use genomics to select pigs with improved disease resilience. The funding, which comes from Genome Canada, will build on the work the professor of animal biotechnology has done with funding from Genome Alberta and is being supported by […] Read more
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