Global markets were blindsided by Russia in the third week of December as Moscow raised its key interest rates to a shocking 17 per cent, up significantly from the 10.5 per cent level they had been just raised to a few days earlier. Why the rate increase? The ruble has been free-falling this year with... Read More
Category: Markets
Transparency needs to be built into the federal government’s plan to create a producer payment protection fund for Western Canada, says the chair of Keystone Agricultural Producers’ grains, oilseeds and pulses committee. Farm groups, including KAP, Grain Growers of Canada and the Canadian Canola Growers Association, are generally welcoming Bill C-48, which was introduced in... Read More
Dr. Stephen Koontz, of Colorado State University, is shining a light on a rather complicated, but incredibly important part of how cattle prices are currently set. Markets and marketing evolves over time, and the cattle industry is no different. Koontz says that the strong transition from a negotiated cash trade, to formula and forward pricing... Read More
A combination of a poor malt barley crop this year and a longer-term downward trend in malt barley acres is leading North American maltsters and brewers to import more barley from Europe. An estimated 70 to 80 percent of the barley crop in Western Canada was hit by rain or snow just prior to harvest,... Read More
Rumours are building again that Russia may limit their grain exports (specifically wheat) and the government might start increasing the purchasing price from farmers for the government reserve stocks (the government is definitely worried about rising domestic food prices). This would incentivize producers to sell to the government versus grain merchants/exporters. SovEcon said earlier in... Read More
There’s been a general decline in prices for used farm machinery in North America since late summer, with some notable exceptions, including larger equipment here in Canada, says a well-known follower of farm auctions across the continent. Based in Rochester, Minnesota, Greg Peterson (also known as “Machinery Pete”) has been tracking auction prices for 25... Read More
Bids for peas in Western Canada will likely move higher in the coming months, thanks to lower supplies and strong exports, says an analyst with Mercantile Consulting Venture. Posted prices for yellow peas have recently been in the $6.50 to $7 per bushel range, but as part of this Pulse School episode filmed last week,... Read More
Canola supplies could be tight by the end of the 2014-15 crop year, depending on who you believe. On one hand, Statistics Canada last week pegged 2014 canola production at 15.6 million tonnes. On the other hand, most of the trade is estimating production at between 14 and 15 million tonnes, with carry-out stocks next... Read More
The recovery of the U.S. economy remains critical to Canada’s economic health, says an economist with RBC Financial. “We have growth and a strengthening economy in Canada as a result from strengthening in exports, but a lot of that is riding on the pick-up in growth in the U.S. and facilitated further by a little... Read More
With speculation swirling around the privatization of the Canadian Wheat Board, the chief strategy officer for CWB has published an open letter explaining why much of grain marketer's commercialization plan is being kept confidential. Although she doesn't mention Farmers of North America's offer specifically, Dayna Spiring describes why bids to acquire CWB may have been... Read More