Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange October lean hog futures fell sharply to a contract low on Thursday, weighed down by a months-long decline in cash prices and abundant supplies, traders said. Deferred hog futures contracts as well as most live cattle and feeder cattle contracts also eased on technical selling and profit-taking. Traders […] Read more

Sao Paulo | Reuters — Brazil’s federal police on Thursday formally asked prosecutors to bring charges against brothers Wesley and Joesley Batista, the owners of meatpacker JBS SA, for insider trading. The Batista brothers saved as much as 138 million reais (C$54 million) through allegedly illegal market dealings in May, police said. The insider trading […] Read more

CNS Canada — The ongoing U.S. harvest is keeping a lid on rallies in both the corn and soybean markets. Corn futures on the Chicago Board of Trade chopped above and below the psychologically-important US$3.50 per bushel mark during the week ended Wednesday. Soybeans felt some pressure from fund selling and generally seemed to be […] Read more

Chicago | Reuters –– Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures notched their biggest gains in 11 months on Wednesday, boosted by optimism for higher cash cattle prices and technical buying, traders and analysts said. Higher cattle sales at a weekly online auction helped to trigger the rally. Feeder cattle and lean hog futures also were […] Read more

CNS Canada — A 16.8 per cent drop in the size of Canada’s barley crop has given feed barley prices some support, according to an industry-watcher in Alberta. “The market is looking fairly strong,” said Allan Pirness of Market Place Commodities in Lethbridge. “It’s made things a little firmer for new-crop feed grain.” Wet weather […] Read more

Chicago | Reuters — U.S. livestock futures gained on technical buying on Tuesday, with feeder cattle rising to a two-month high and lean hogs climbing by as much as 2.6 per cent, traders said. Fresh news remained scant, but traders were more optimistic about higher cash prices for both cattle and hogs. Declining prices for […] Read more

Compared to last week, yearlings traded $3-$5 higher while calf prices were $5 to as much as $10 higher in some cases. Southern Alberta yearling prices were unchanged this week after trading at premium to western Canadian markets earlier in September. The U.S. Department of Agriculture came out on Tuesday and lowered its beef production […] Read more

Rio de Janeiro/Sao Paulo | Reuters — JBS SA’s weekend move to replace the Brazilian company’s jailed chief executive with his father showed “deviousness” and left in place a situation of “terrible governance” at the world’s No. 1 meatpacker, the head of state development bank BNDES said on Monday, In remarks to Reuters, BNDES president […] Read more

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange lean hog futures were mostly lower on Monday, pressured by bear-spreading and big U.S. supplies that continued to weigh on cash markets, traders said. The front-month October hogs contract notched the biggest declines, easing 0.975 cent, or about 1.7 per cent, to settle at 60 cents/lb. (all figures […] Read more