While the longer-term outlook for exports to China, based on demographics, appears increasingly bearish, the short-term situation still has Canadian producers in a "sweet spot," according to a veteran western Canadian grain market analyst. China's National Bureau of Statistics reported the country's first official population decline in decades on Tuesday. While China's population still sits... Read More
Category: Markets
Looking back over the past century, economic recessions have more often than not been preceded by a sharp rise in oil prices, as seen in the first half of 2022. Farmers and grain marketers should be looking to the energy market as a leading indicator for where other commodities are headed, according to a market... Read More
Nitrogen prices for North American farmers are no longer at their 2022 highs, but they still have a long way to drop before returning to where they were a few years ago. Where that floor is for the market will largely be determined by European energy policy, John Daniels, fertilizer product manager for Paterson GlobalFoods,... Read More
Who's buying, who's growing, and who's selling? Chuck Penner, founder of Leftfield Commodity Research, gave a grain market outlook at the Western Canada Crop Production Show at Saskatoon this week. RealAgriculture's Atley Hamlin caught up with Penner and asked about the pea, lentil, and chickpea market factors at play for the year ahead. Starting with... Read More
Beef and cattle markets south of the border started the year off steady and on solid footing, which is good news at the wholesale level. Does this steady market offer a suggestion of what's to come? For this first Beef Market Update of 2023, Anne Wasko, of the Gateway Livestock Exchange, joins Shaun Haney to... Read More
When market volatility is not the motivating factor for growers to sell, how do marketers avoid selling complacency setting in? Jonathon Driedger of Leftfield Commodity Research says that the markets could test new highs in the year ahead, but that small moves over time may be more likely in the year ahead. At the top... Read More
Now is an interesting time to be making decisions on old crop marketing or pulling the trigger on new crop pricing. Some farmers are well set for new crop, but market analyst Jonathon Driedger of Leftfield Commodity Research says there are three key factors that bear watching early in the new year. Looking very big... Read More
New demand for canola oil is driving a wave of expansion in canola processing capacity, and along with it, there's going to be a large increase in the supply of the main byproduct — canola meal. The amount of canola processed in Western Canada is expected to grow by around 50 per cent in two... Read More
As much as the 2023 growing season and following marketing year are highly unlikely to be as wild as 2022, there's still plenty of unknowns and volatility ahead. Neil Townsend, analyst with FarmLink Marketing Solutions, says there were definitely head-scratchers in the 2022 season — like when wheat prices shot up, then dropped, then settled... Read More
When it comes to the Canadian cattle industry, 2022 may not be quiet as reviled as 2021 and its extreme drought, but it's unlikely to rank in the top five best years for many. While the year definitely shows well in the cattle prices category, it's the profit and loss statement that really tells the... Read More