File photo of a platter of sliced raw beef served in Singapore for use in shabu-shabu, a Japanese-style hotpot dish. (Kenneth Chew/iStock/Getty Images)

Singapore clears all Canadian beef for import

Country first to lift BSE-era restrictions under new status

Canada’s new official international status as a “negligible risk” country for bovine spongiform encephalopathy now has its first recognition from a beef-importing nation. Singapore has approved the Canadian Food Inspection Agency’s certificate for exports of all Canadian beef, including beef offal, with no restrictions on the age of the cattle from which the beef was […] Read more

CME October 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures ease as beef prices cool

Lean hog index still at premium to futures

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures eased on Wednesday, as beef prices eased ahead of the Labour Day holiday, traditionally a big beef consumption holiday, traders said. “We’re getting into that lull period ahead of the Labour Day holiday, where the retailers have already got their product purchased from the packers,” […] Read more


ICE November 2021 canola (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

ICE weekly outlook: Canola rangebound, awaits report

New StatsCan data due out Monday

MarketsFarm — ICE Futures canola contracts saw some choppy activity during the week ended Wednesday, hitting their lowest levels in nearly a month before recovering back toward the upper end of their wide sideways range. A new production report from Statistics Canada, due out Monday (Aug. 30), could set the stage for a break one […] Read more

CBOT December 2021 oats (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, brown and black lines). (Barchart)

CBOT weekly outlook: Factors worth watching

Oats showing recent strength

MarketsFarm — Choppiness in Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soyoil, a potential increase in corn prices and an upcoming production report from Statistics Canada are factors on which grains analyst Terry Reilly suggests keeping an eye. Soyoil has been hit by early reports that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency was going to recommend to the […] Read more


Grain is loaded onto ships for export at a port on the Parana River near Rosario, Argentina on Jan. 31, 2017. (File photo: Reuters/Marcos Brindicci)

Argentina forms agency to manage cargo river, grain exporters worry

Added bureaucracy in grain shipping feared

Buenos Aires | Reuters — Argentina said on Wednesday it had formed a new government agency to manage dredging operations needed to ensure navigation of the Parana River, which carries about 80 per cent of the country’s grains exports from the Pampas farm belt out to sea. For decades, cargo ships have paid tolls directly […] Read more

CBOT December 2021 corn (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, orange and dark green lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Corn climbs on weaker crop conditions

Soybeans mixed, wheat eases

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago corn futures climbed on Wednesday for a second day after the U.S. Department of Agriculture cut crop ratings on Monday afternoon, though beneficial rainfall across parts of the upper U.S. Midwest limited gains. Soybeans ended higher after the market made its biggest daily gain since late June on Tuesday, with […] Read more


A view of Imperial Oil’s Strathcona fuel refinery from the North Saskatchewan River. (Imperial Oil photo via BusinessWire)

Imperial Oil lays out Alberta renewable diesel plan

Company would use 'locally grown' canola, soybean oils

Reuters — Imperial Oil, one of Canada’s biggest oil producers and refiners, on Wednesday outlined a plan to process vegetable oil into renewable diesel at its 191,000-barrel-per-day Edmonton-area refinery. The project, which still requires final approval, is part of majority-owner Exxon Mobil’s goal of producing more than 40,000 barrels per day of low-emissions fuels by […] Read more



World Food Programme executive director David Beasley speaks during an interview with Reuters in Doha, Qatar on Aug. 24, 2021. (Photo: Reuters/Alexander Cornwell)

Afghanistan ‘marching towards starvation,’ UN food chief says

Doha | Reuters — Millions of Afghans could soon face starvation due to a combination of conflict, drought and the coronavirus pandemic, the executive director of the World Food Programme said on Tuesday, calling on political leaders to act fast. “There’s a perfect storm coming because of several years of drought, conflict, economic deterioration, compounded […] Read more