If Canada sticks to a rules-based playbook on trade mean it won’t get any cake at all?

Comment: Having our cake and eating it, too

The saying about wanting to have your cake and eat it too has always annoyed me. Why would I have a piece of cake if not to eat it? And in order to eat the cake, I must first have it. But shake up the sentence structure, and the saying suddenly makes sense (at least […] Read more



Canola in swath near Starbuck, Man. on Aug. 10, 2019. (MarketsFarm photo by Glen Hallick)

StatsCan report puts canola production at lowest since 2015

MarketsFarm — Data from Statistics Canada’s production of principal field crops report, released Friday morning, will likely be supportive of canola values, put pressure on barley, and keep wheat prices steady. In the report, canola production across Canada decreased by 8.3 per cent nationally to 18.6 million tonnes, compared to 2018 production volumes. The decreased […] Read more


ICE Futures January 2020 canola with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola steady, awaits news

MarketsFarm — ICE Futures canola contracts moved lower during the week ended Wednesday, but remain rangebound overall awaiting some fresh market-moving news. Some direction could come from the U.S. soybean complex, as the ongoing back-and-forth of trade talks with China could see some actual movement ahead of a Dec. 15 deadline that will see the […] Read more

(Dave Bedard photo)

Trade’s crop estimates vary ahead of StatsCan report

MarketsFarm — Barley and canola production expectations vary ahead of Statistics Canada’s production of principal field crops report, due out Friday. In September, the federal agency estimated Canada’s barley production to total just less than 10 million tonnes, two million higher than the final count for the 2018-19 growing year. However, some trade estimates are […] Read more


China has boosted its wheat imports from Canada in the wake of the U.S.-China trade war, Ivy Li says. (MarketsFarm photo by Glen Hallick)

Grain World: Beijing analyst brings different perspective

Saskatoon | MarketsFarm — Ivy Li brought a much different perspective about China to the Grain World conference in Saskatoon. Specializing in Chinese agricultural markets, the Beijing-based independent analyst veered away from the usual statements that often cast China as the bad guy on the world stage. Also, Li pointed out, Canada has been doing […] Read more

Jason Shapiro at Grain World. (MarketsFarm photo by Glen Hallick)

Grain World: Geopolitics is back dominating global relations

Saskatoon | MarketsFarm — Geopolitics is again shaping the international scene, including China, Jason Shapiro explained here Thursday at the Grain World conference. Geopolitics, he said, resulted in catastrophic global wars and generated very little peace for close to a century. Shapiro, director of analysis for Geopolitical Futures — an Austin, Tex.-based international risk analysis […] Read more