CME October 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME live cattle, feeder cattle extend gains

December hogs touch one-week low

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange feeder cattle and live cattle futures rose on Tuesday amid technical buying, while lean hog futures finished mixed. Both cattle markets have been due to rebound after recent selloffs dragged prices too low at a time when demand is solid, brokers said. Live cattle futures topped a one-week […] Read more

CME December 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, dark red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures extend slump

Hogs mixed after strong week

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) live cattle futures closed lower on Friday, extending their slide for a sixth session on lacklustre cash cattle trade and falling wholesale beef prices, traders said. CME October live cattle futures settled down 0.175 cent on Friday at 120.4 cents/lb. while the benchmark December contract fell 0.525 […] Read more


CME December 2021 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, brown and dark red lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME hog futures rise on sustained buying

Interest tied to bullish USDA report; cattle futures continue lower

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures closed higher on Thursday on continued buying interest tied to the recent bullish quarterly hog report from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), traders said. CME October lean hogs settled up 0.8 cent at 91.6 cents/lb., while the most-active December contract rose 1.8 cents […] Read more

CME December 2021 lean hogs (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (pink, red and black lines). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME hogs surge on bullish USDA data

Chicago cattle futures sag

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) lean hog futures soared on Monday, with the most-active December contract rising its daily limit after a quarterly U.S. Department of Agriculture report showed a smaller-than-expected U.S. hog herd. CME October lean hogs settled up 2.975 cents at 90.25 cents/lb., and the December contract rose its daily […] Read more


An information label is seen on packaging for a CO2 cylinder for a fizzy drinks machine in Manchester, Britain on Sept. 20, 2021. (Photo: Reuters)/Phil Noble)

Britain tells its food industry to prepare for CO2 price shock

U.K. pays fertilizer maker CF Industries to reopen plants

London | Reuters — Britain warned its food producers on Wednesday to prepare for a 400 per cent rise in carbon dioxide prices after extending emergency state support to avert a shortage of poultry and meat triggered by soaring costs of wholesale natural gas. Natural gas prices have spiked this year as economies reopened from […] Read more

California restauranteurs are concerned that a meat staple of many dishes such as the one seen here is going to be gutted from their menus come January.

Disappearing bacon — what’s next?

Free Market Reflections with Steve Dittmer

Reality can bite for voters ruled by emotion rather than informed decision-making. But this time, it could take away something to bite into. Restauranteurs in California are getting very concerned that a meat staple of many dishes, especially in breakfast-centred restaurants, is going to be gutted from their menus in January. Beginning then, much of […] Read more


(Olymel video screengrab via YouTube)

Olymel to close former F. Menard bacon plant

Pork further-processing plant at Henryville to shut in November

Meat packer Olymel plans to shut a pork further-processing plant it operates in Quebec’s Monteregie by mid-November and pick up the work at its other sites. Olymel, the meats arm of Sollio Co-operative, said Wednesday it will permanently close the bacon plant at Henryville, about 60 km southeast of Montreal, effective Nov. 12. The closure […] Read more

(Sollio Co-operative Group video screengrab via YouTube)

Upgraded Olymel hog plant’s second shift begins

Ange-Gardien plant's slaughter pace to rise by up to 40 per cent

A promised second shift is now up and running at a major hog plant in Quebec’s Monteregie and is expected to eventually boost the plant’s weekly slaughter capacity by up to 40 per cent. Plans for a second shift at Olymel’s packing plant at Ange-Gardien, about 50 km east of Montreal, have been in the […] Read more


(PorcOlymel.com)

Slaughter resumes at Olymel hog plant

Return to usual pace expected 'in coming weeks'

Hog slaughter resumed Friday at a major Quebec pork plant that had sat idle for over four months, as striking employees now return to work with a new six-year contract. The Olymel plant at Vallee-Jonction, south of Quebec City, restarted daytime and evening hog slaughter shifts Friday after “maintenance and sanitation” work on Wednesday and […] Read more

(Olymel video screengrab via YouTube)

Striking Olymel workers accept new six-year deal

Slaughter could restart Friday at earliest, company says

Striking workers at a major hog slaughter and cutting plant in Quebec’s Beauce region have agreed to a new six-year contract that could see slaughter resume Friday at the earliest. Olymel and the CSN-affiliated Syndicat des travailleurs d’Olymel Vallee-Jonction (STOVJ) announced Tuesday afternoon that unionized workers at the company’s Vallee-Jonction plant, south of Quebec City, […] Read more