MarketsFarm — As with last year, total wheat acres in the United States are projected to remain at all-time lows, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). The department issued its prospective plantings estimates Tuesday. MarketsFarm director of markets and weather Bruce Burnett called USDA’s wheat and soybean estimates positive, while he said its […] Read more
U.S. projects wheat acres at record lows, increases for soy, corn
Grain stocks as of March 1 down on year
Burnett on Markets: Suddenly agriculture is important
COVID-19 is putting food security in the spotlight
MarketsFarm — A trend has developed in the business news channels over the past week that has not been hard to miss. Suddenly the CEOs of big agriculture and food concerns are being featured front and centre during the business segments. Usually these companies are noted only when they release quarterly results and even then […] Read more
Prairie cash wheat: Bids fall with U.S. futures
MarketsFarm — Hard red spring wheat bids in Western Canada moved lower during the week ended Thursday, as a sell-off in U.S. futures weighed on prices. Concerns that the Wuhan coronavirus would lead to a slowdown in the global economy accounted for some of the broad speculative selling that weighed on most grain markets during […] Read more
Late North American durum faces quality downgrades
MarketsFarm — Cool and wet conditions delaying harvest operations across North America’s durum-growing regions are cutting into the quality of the crop in both the U.S. and Canada, with widening price spreads likely going forward. “It’s been a challenging harvest,” said Erica Olson, marketing specialist with the North Dakota Wheat Commission. “We did have some […] Read more
Malt driving demand for soft white spring wheat
Soft white spring acres in Alberta have rebounded thanks to the craft beer movement
Reading Time: 5 minutes Soft white wheat acres are starting to creep up in Alberta, thanks to the burgeoning craft beer movement. “There’s been a growing market for malting soft white wheat,” said Geoff Backman, markets manager with Alberta Wheat and Barley. “It’s been driven by demand from the craft brewing industry, and that’s a nice value-added market on […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soy futures end near unchanged
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures finished near unchanged on Thursday after initially rising on hopes for further Chinese purchases, traders said. China, the world’s largest soybean importer, will buy about six million tonnes of soy from the United States before trade talks in early October, said a chief analyst at Shanghai JC Intelligence […] Read more
Feed weekly outlook: Barley’s slide slows as harvest drags
MarketsFarm — The slide in western Canadian feed grain prices over the past few months shows signs of slowing, as concerns over harvest delays supplant earlier concerns over large crops and quality downgrades. “The weather over the next week or so doesn’t look that great,” Allen Pirness of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge said Thursday. […] Read more
Spring wheat futures rally on North American weather woes
MarketsFarm — Weather-related quality issues with North American spring wheat crops saw Minneapolis spring wheat futures rally sharply over the past three weeks, with more room to the upside as concerns mount over the state of the crop. The December contract hit a multi-year low of $4.865 per bushel at the beginning of September, but […] Read more
U.S. grains: Soybeans slip on weather, Chinese buying concerns
Chicago | Reuters — Chicago soybean futures fell on Wednesday as investors worried U.S.-China trade relations could escalate and as thoughts of frost impacting U.S. Midwest yields began to ease, traders said. Soybean futures faced pressure after President Donald Trump criticized Chinese policy in his address at the United Nations on Tuesday, reviving worries that […] Read more
U.S. grains: Minneapolis, K.C. wheat futures rise
Chicago | Reuters — U.S. soybean futures rose on Monday, rebounding from a sharp drop on Friday, on fresh export deals with China and rising concerns that rains in the U.S. Midwest could lower crop quality just ahead of harvest, traders said. The adverse weather also supported corn futures while wheat futures were mixed. The […] Read more