Winnipeg/Beijing | Reuters — A political dispute between China and Canada over the arrest of a Huawei executive is slowing canola shipments through Chinese ports and causing some importers to hesitate to buy from their biggest supplier, according to interviews with a dozen traders. Since Canadian authorities arrested Huawei chief financial officer Meng Wanzhou in […] Read more
Canadian canola runs into Chinese delays after Huawei arrest
Kitchen scraps eliminated for pigs in China
China's ag ministry blames feeding food waste to pigs for African swine fever spread
Reuters – China’s Agriculture Ministry says it will ban the feeding of kitchen waste to pigs after linking the practice to the majority of the early cases of African swine fever. The statement from the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Affairs is the government’s first comment on how the deadly disease has spread in the […] Read more
China soybean imports set for biggest drop in 12 years amid tariff conflict
China is not expected to face a shortfall in supplies because of abundant domestic reserves
Reuters – China’s soybean imports are set to drop by a quarter in the last three months of 2018, their biggest fall in at least 12 years as buyers curb purchases amid the China-U.S. trade war and high domestic stockpiles. Soybeans have been at the heart of the tit-for-tat trade dispute between the world’s top […] Read more
China culls 200,000 pigs due to African swine fever – official
China | Reuters – China, the world’s top pork producer, has culled 200,000 pigs so far following outbreaks of highly contagious African swine fever in the country, a Chinese animal health official said on Friday. While that represents only a tiny portion of the nearly 700 million pigs slaughtered in China each year for sale as pork, restrictions […] Read more
China drops import tariffs on feed ingredients from Asian neighbours
Beijing | Reuters — China on Tuesday said it would remove import tariffs on animal feed ingredients including soybeans from five Asian neighbours, in a sign that Beijing wants to boost foreign supplies of the commodities as a trade dispute with the U.S. escalates. The Ministry of Finance said it would drop tariffs on soybeans, […] Read more
U.S. pork, fruit producers brace for second wave of Chinese tariffs
Beijing/Chicago | Reuters — U.S. producers of pork, already saddled with duties enacted in an earlier round of the escalating trade dispute with China, are bracing for further pain after Beijing hit the products with additional tariffs due to come into effect next month. China implemented a 25 per cent duty on most U.S. pork […] Read more
China signals to state giants: ‘Buy American’ oil and grains
Singapore/Beijing | Reuters –– China will import record volumes of U.S. oil and is likely to ship more U.S. soy after Beijing signalled to state-run refiners and grains purchasers they should buy more to help ease tensions between the two top economies, trade sources said on Wednesday. China pledged at the weekend to increase imports […] Read more
China’s pig farmers hit brakes on expansion as prices plunge
Large firms are delaying expansion, and small farmers are being forced out of business
Beijing/Reuters – Some Chinese pig farmers are adjusting expansion plans or putting planned projects on hold because of a glut in the market that led to hog prices hitting an eight-year low last month. Two medium-sized companies have told Reuters they have either reduced expansion plans or are holding off on future expansion of breeding […] Read more
Multi-storey hog hotels elevate Chinese industrial farms to new levels
Yaji Mountain, China | Reuters — On Yaji Mountain in southern China, they are checking in the sows 1,000 head per floor in high-rise “hog hotels.” Privately-owned agricultural company Guangxi Yangxiang Co. Ltd. is running two seven-floor sow breeding operations, and is putting up four more, including one with as many as 13 floors that […] Read more
U.S.-China trade fears halt soybean imports
Singapore/Beijing | Reuters — China’s purchases of U.S. soybeans have come to a grinding halt, trade and industry sources say, as fears of further action by Beijing to curb imports of U.S. crops following last week’s anti-dumping move on sorghum rattles the agriculture industry. Buyers from China, which takes 60 per cent of soybeans traded […] Read more
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