Canada’s biggest hog producer, privately held HyLife, is weathering the industry’s severe losses inflicted by the U.S. drought, but fears losing part of its pig supply as buyers line up for other distressed farms, the company’s chief operating officer said on Thursday. While rival Canadian hog producers Big Sky Farms and Puratone Corporation entered receivership […] Read more
Canada’s biggest hog farm weathers crisis, eyes supply risk
Maple Leaf Foods profit falls 24 pct
Canadian food processor Maple Leaf Foods reported a 24 per cent drop in quarterly profit on Wednesday, after the company took a $13 million charge in the value of its hogs. Net earnings for the third quarter ended Sept. 30 fell to $32.6 million, or 22 cents per share, from $43 million, or 29 cents, […] Read more
Dry fall in Western Canada has farmers worried about spring planting
Western Canada’s fertile fields are parched due to below-normal rain this fall and with below-average to normal snowfall expected this winter farmers might see potentially unfavourable spring planting conditions.Most of the region’s farm belt across Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba has had well-below normal precipitation during the past three months, ranging from less than 40 per […] Read more
CFIA says not more safety concerns at XL
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency says it has no food-safety worries in allowing XL Foods plant in Brooks to re-open. “We are confident that all issues have been fully addressed,” said Paul Mayers, associate vice-president of programs for CFIA. Problems at the plant ranged from failing to follow its own food-safety plan to poor analysis […] Read more
Shrinking canola oil content pinches crushers, exporters
Supply worries about Canada’s disappointingly small canola harvest this year are compounded by the oilseed’s reduced oil content, crimping profits for crushers and leaving food companies to scramble for other vegetable oils. Expectations were high early in the crop year that a record-large canola crop in top grower Canada would compensate for some of the […] Read more
PotashCorp profit off on standoff with China, India
PotashCorp’s third-quarter earnings fell 22 per cent as a standoff over new contracts led to a sharp drop in shipments to China and India, the world’s two biggest consumers of the company’s namesake crop nutrient. The world’s biggest fertilizer maker said on Thursday that overseas potash shipments by North American producers dropped by one quarter […] Read more
XL’s Brooks beef plant reopens
The Canadian plant that produced millions of pounds of recalled beef was set to reopen on Tuesday as food inspection officials tried to restore consumer confidence in the country’s food safety system. XL Foods’ Brooks, Alta. plant has been closed since Sept. 27 after producing beef contaminated with E. coli bacteria that sickened at least […] Read more
Olymel offers $65M for hog producer Big Sky
Privately held Olymel, one of Canada’s largest pork processors, has offered to buy Canada’s second-largest hog producer out of receivership for $65.25 million. Big Sky Farms, which produces about a million pigs per year and is based near Humboldt, Sask., entered receivership in early September after piling up $69 million in debt to secured creditors. […] Read more
China buys at least 295K tonnes of Canadian spring wheat
China has purchased 295,000 tonnes of Canadian spring wheat over the past two weeks, Canadian industry sources with direct knowledge of the sales said, signaling China’s biggest appetite for the high-protein wheat in years. Some of the cargoes are expected to be delivered in November and others in January and later in Canada’s current 2012-13 […] Read more
Pork packers interested in ailing major hog producers
Two major Canadian pork processors are among those expressing interest in Canada’s second-biggest hog producer, Big Sky Farms — which is looking for new ownership after soaring feed costs left it unable to pay its bills. Big Sky, which produces about a million pigs per year and is based near Humboldt, Sask., entered receivership in […] Read more
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