CME February 2024 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle up off last week’s sell-off

Lean hog futures also turn higher

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle and feeder futures advanced on Monday in a rebound from recent declines to multi-month lows. Short-covering helped boost the markets, as losses driven by fund liquidation and technical selling last week were overdone, brokers said. The U.S. beef industry still faces tight supplies of cattle, after […] Read more

(Thinkstock photo)

Prairie cash wheat: Bids up in early November

U.S. wheat futures up on week

MarketsFarm –– Spring wheat bids in Western Canada moved higher during the week ended Thursday, as gains in U.S. futures provided support. Average Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS, 13.5 per cent) wheat prices were up by $8.80-$10.10 per tonne across the Prairies, according to price quotes from a cross-section of delivery points compiled by PDQ […] Read more


CBOT December 2023 corn with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Chicago corn slumps on forecast for record-large crop

Crude oil recovery lends some support to grains

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago corn futures posted a third straight weekly decline on Friday, as traders reacted to a government forecast that U.S. farmers will produce a record-large crop this year. Wheat was lower, following corn. Commodity funds hold a sizeable net short position in Chicago wheat futures, leaving the market prone to volatility […] Read more

CME February 2024 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle mixed, feeder cattle firm

Lean hogs up with pork cutout

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures ended the week mixed on Friday, as traders and analysts said technical and algorithmic trading sent contract prices whipsawing during the session. Feeder cattle futures firmed as Chicago corn futures posted a third straight weekly decline, as grain markets continued to react to a […] Read more


CME December 2023 live cattle with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: Cattle sell-off sends nearby contracts plunging

CME hogs mixed in choppy trade

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) cattle futures fell sharply on Thursday, amid fund liquidation, growing concern over consumer demand and signs of prices falling in the cash market. Traders and funds scrambled to shed some of their long positions, after betting the bull market in cattle futures would continue well into the […] Read more

CBOT December 2023 corn with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages. (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Chicago grain, soy futures drop after USDA forecasts

China buys over one million tonnes of U.S. soy

Chicago | Reuters — The Chicago Board of Trade’s most-active corn futures plunged sharply on Thursday after the government reported that U.S. farmers will produce the biggest-ever corn crop this year. The report’s forecast topped trade estimates. The most-active CBOT corn contract at one point dipped to $4.66-1/2, the lowest price since Dec. 30, 2020, […] Read more


Sea surface temperature (SST) anomalies for the week centred on Nov. 1, 2023, in degrees Celsius. (CPC.ncep.noaa.gov)

El Nino to continue through Northern Hemisphere spring, U.S. forecaster says

Reuters — El Nino weather conditions will continue through the Northern Hemisphere during April-June 2024 with a 62 per cent chance, a U.S. government weather forecaster said on Thursday. “Above-average sea surface temperatures (SST) across the equatorial Pacific Ocean were indicative of a strong El Nino, with anomalies increasing in the central and east-central Pacific […] Read more

(Photo courtesy Canada Beef Inc.)

Feed weekly outlook: U.S. corn moving into Canadian feedlots

Canada's feed grain exports down on year

MarketsFarm — The steady flow of corn from the United States into Canadian feedlots should keep prices for domestic feed grains under pressure for the foreseeable future. Canada imported 91,100 tonnes of corn from the U.S. during the week ended Nov. 2, taking the marketing-year-to-date total to 221,700 tonnes, according to the latest U.S. Department […] Read more


File photo of a partially harvested cornfield in Minnesota. (Emholk/iStock/Getty Images)

USDA’s WASDE report throws a few curveballs

Corn carryover up significantly

MarketsFarm — There were some surprises in the November world agricultural supply and demand estimates (WASDE) from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, released Thursday. USDA defied trade expectations when it came to 2023-24 ending stocks of U.S. corn, soybeans, and all wheat, with those being higher. As well, the department came in above what the […] Read more

(Bicks.ca)

Smucker to shed Bick’s brand

Pickle brand, other Canadian condiments to go to TreeHouse

U.S. food firm J.M. Smucker has a deal in place to sell off the Canadian pickle brand Bick’s and a portfolio of condiment brands it makes for the Canadian market. Ohio-based Smucker announced Oct. 17 it will sell the Bick’s brand plus the Habitant pickled beets, Woodman’s horseradish and McLarens pickled onions brands to Illinois […] Read more