Olymel has notified pork producers in Ontario who ship to its processing plants in Quebec that it intends to exercise the force majeure clause due to the COVID-19 pandemic, according to industry sources. By invoking the clause, the company would no longer be required to purchase market hogs under the terms of the contracts it… Read More
Category: Meat Markets
The reduction in gasoline usage across North America has put a death grip on ethanol producers. Plants have been scaling back production to try and stay solvent as storage capacity fills. Aside from the impact less ethanol production has on corn and utility wheat demand, livestock producers that use distillers’ dried grains (DDGs) in feed… Read More
Just two short weeks ago, no one was really sure what was ahead for the COVID-19 virus lockdown and social distancing — but now cities are ghost towns, and grocery store shelves and coolers are suspiciously absent of some key items; beef, pork, and chicken among them. A flurry of retail buying may have emptied… Read More
What a week. Frankly, the last week and even two weeks has been wild enough — let alone the last 24 hours — as the impact of COVID-19 makes its way into North American travel bans, the stock market, oil prices, the Canadian dollar and more. The volatility has been extreme. Anne Wasko, of the… Read More
If you’re looking for good news, you may not find it in the cattle markets this week. Mounting concerns over the spread of coronavirus and the global economy are starting to play a significant role. Anne Wasko of the Gateway Livestock Exchange is considering this a black swan event akin to the fire in Kansas… Read More
The China-U.S. mega trade deal promising big things for ag product sales has seen some of its momentum lost to the coronavirus outbreak. “It makes things way more complicated,” says Don Close, a senior analyst at RaboResearch Food & Agribusiness. “As soon as that agreement was signed, U.S. markets started to sell off, and have… Read More
What carries greater downside risk: having to sell in a down market to generate cash flow, or pre-selling a crop in increments? The short answer is it depends, but the in-depth explanation is that panic or stressed sales by their nature are rarely the most profitable. Pre-selling some crop carries a risk, yes, but there… Read More
In a world market where volatility is the name of the game, “steady” is probably more positive than negative. And that’s about where we are for this first full month of 2020, says Anne Wasko of Gateway Livestock Exchange. Nearly across the board — and across the border — prices are steady, cut out is… Read More
The final numbers are starting to roll in for 2019 beef markets, and it appears that Canada is well-positioned for another good year. In this episode of the Beef Market Update, RealAgriculture’s Shaun Haney and Gateway Livestock’s Anne Wasko take a walk through 2019, considering the impacts of African swine fever, and where Canadian beef… Read More
The USDA released its latest cattle on feed report for December 1, 2019. Cattle and calves on feed for the slaughter market in the United States for feedlots with capacity of 1,000 or more head totalled 12 million head, that’s up 2% year-over-year. Placements in feedlots during November totalled 2.09 million head, 5 per cent… Read More