Oat futures in Chicago have fallen steadily since early December, dropping to their lowest level in over five years. “They just happen to be one of the uglier (markets) at the moment, both old crop and new crop. We’ve seen oat futures collapse quite quickly,” says Lorne Boundy, oat trader with Paterson Grain. “They’ve actually been… Read More
Category: Markets
Grains this week followed the rest of the commodity and equity space lower, despite the U.S. Dollar losing more than 1% for the second week of February. Some short covering towards the end of the week helped soybeans stay in the green, but all other grains listed on the board dropped. Canola was a notable loser… Read More
It’s another year of opportunity for barley, says the barley merchandising manager for Viterra. After declining for much of the past decade, the number of barley acres in Western Canada rose slightly in 2015 and is expected to grow again in 2016. Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada’s preliminary projection has barley acreage rising by two percent…. Read More
Cattle prices may not be where they were a year ago, but ranchers are generally still an optimistic bunch at current levels. Anne Wasko of Gateway Livestock joins us in the middle of her busy winter meeting circuit for this latest edition of the Beef Market Update. Domestically, the volatile Canadian dollar continues to play with… Read More
Grains this week were mostly lower as realities about supply continue to trump ideas of fresh demand. The U.S. dollar lost 2.7% for the week, which helped other commodity currencies appreciate. Weather kept to the sidelines for the most part, indicating fluctuations in currency are certain to be the theme into spring. Oil World is forecasting European… Read More
The winds of change have blown through Canada. No longer is Alberta on top of the Canadian economic machine. Ontario is no longer the manufacturing super power. The word ‘Conservative’ cannot be found in the name of any governing provincial party and no one is joking about the attitude of Saskatchewan. “Excellence is not a… Read More
A new report commissioned by SaskCanola says there would be no net benefit to producers from implementing a component pricing system that offers premiums or discounts based on canola’s oil content. “There was some discussion a few years ago when crush margins were widening — are farmers receiving a fair amount for the canola they’re growing… Read More
Grains ended the month of January making up some gains from the tough losses that they started the year off with. Some bullish acreage and weather news helped get some of shorts in the wheat market covered, pushing the complex actually up almost 2% on the futures boards! Rounding out the complex, corn continued to… Read More
With planting season around the corner, markets are starting to focus on acreage expectations, looking for answers to questions like “how high will lentil acres actually be in Western Canada and the northern US?” But while there’s plenty of talk about pulses, there are also questions to be answered about 2016 wheat and canola production,… Read More
As we head into the last week of January, commodity prices started to finally rebound a bit, led by Brent and WTI crude oil jumping 11% and 6% from where they closed last Friday! This helped net-resource-exporting currencies like the Russian ruble, Australian dollar, and the Canadian dollar gain some ground to end the week in… Read More
We’re talking about everything from the state of the US and Canadian economies to SaskCanola’s effort to share how many farmers view modern ag technology through the “License to Farm” film. After spending most of the week at Ag Days in Brandon, Kelvin Heppner host of this week’s news podcast and is joined by a… Read More
Agriculture is poised to play a much larger role in the Canadian economy thanks to impacts of climate change and declining revenues from oil extraction, says well-known author and economist Jeff Rubin. “Climate change has fatal implications for our previous ambitions of becoming an energy superpower, but it’s going to make other assets and resources in… Read More
Commodity prices continue to trade flat to lower as Chinese stock market losses continue to weigh heavy on broader markets, including commodities, forcing broader optimism for global economic growth to fade. All grain values are lower in the first few weeks of 2016 but with some notables being the front month contracts for oats below… Read More
The Canadian Grain Commission is moving ahead with its proposal to realign the wheat classification system for Western Canada. Two new classes will be created while three others will be eliminated on August 1st, 2016. The Canada Northern Hard Red class will be established to address concerns about lower gluten strength in some milling wheat… Read More
For the better part of the last two decades, commodity markets have become accustomed to demand growth from China supporting prices. Whether it was iron ore from Australia or soybeans from the U.S., sales to China grew year-over-year. However, it’s becoming increasingly likely that those days are over. Headlines over the last few week to show the… Read More