CBOT December 2021 wheat (candlesticks) with 20-, 50- and 100-day moving averages (yellow, brown and dark green lines). (Barchart)

U.S. grains: Wheat firms on global supply concerns

Fertilizer risks underpin corn; soybeans weighed by harvest, firmer crush lends support

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago wheat rose on Friday, supported by global supply concerns and an easing dollar. Corn followed wheat higher, but gains were dragged down by pressure from a lower soybean market as U.S. farmers reap better-than-expected harvests of the oilseed. The most-active wheat contract on the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) ended […] Read more

CME December 2021 live cattle (candlesticks) with Bollinger bands (20,2). (Barchart)

U.S. livestock: CME cattle futures touch one-week highs

Chicago lean hogs retreat

Chicago | Reuters — Chicago Mercantile Exchange live cattle futures hit one-week highs on Monday on technical buying and short covering, while lean hog futures tumbled, traders said. The gains in cattle came after the market sank to a four-month low on Friday. “This market is technically very oversold,” said Brian Hoops, president of broker […] Read more

File photo of a canola crop south of Ethelton, Sask. in 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

Canada’s drought forces canola importers to turn elsewhere

'Importers...are going to be left out in the cold'

Winnipeg | Reuters — Canada’s smallest canola harvest in 13 years, resulting from severe drought, is forcing importers like Japan and Mexico to pay more or scour other countries for the yellow-flowering oilseed. With the scant available Canadian canola fetching high prices, customers of the world’s biggest canola exporter are leaning more heavily on smaller-producing […] Read more

Beef is on display at a Walmart in Beijing on Sept. 23, 2019. (File photo: Reuters/Tingshu Wang)

China applies to join Trans-Pacific trade pact

Second-biggest economy seeks to add to economic clout

Updated, Sept. 17 — Beijing | Reuters — Japan said it would have to determine if China meets the “extremely high standards” of the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP) after the world’s second-biggest economy formally applied to join. Commerce Minister Wang Wentao submitted China’s application to join the free trade agreement in […] Read more


Brazilian meatpacker JBS SA’s logo on a tower in Jundiai, northwest of Sao Paulo in southeastern Brazil, on June 1, 2017. (File photo: Reuters/Paulo Whitaker)

JBS says it paid US$11 million in bitcoin for ransom

Cyberattack disrupted plants in North America, Australia

Reuters — Meatpacker JBS USA paid a ransom equivalent to US$11 million (C$13.3 million) following a cyberattack that disrupted its North American and Australian operations, the company’s CEO said in a statement Wednesday. The subsidiary of Brazilian firm JBS halted cattle slaughtering at all of its U.S. plants and its Alberta beef plant for a […] Read more

Screengrab from a 2018 video showing cold storage at the JBS beef slaughter and packing plant at Brooks, Alta. (JBS video via YouTube)

JBS plants reopen as White House blames Russia over hack

Washington/Chicago | Reuters — JBS SA employees started returning to U.S. meat plants on Wednesday, a day after the company’s beef operations stopped following a ransomware attack, disrupting meat production in North America and Australia. A notorious Russia-linked hacking group is behind the cyberattack against JBS, a source familiar with the matter said. Brazil’s JBS […] Read more

(JBSFoodCanada.ca)

Ransomware attack on JBS halts Canadian, U.S. slaughter

Cyberattack likely from Russia, White House says

Chicago/Aboard Air Force One | Reuters — Brazil’s JBS SA told the U.S. government that a ransomware attack on the company that has disrupted meat production in North America and Australia originated from a criminal organization likely based in Russia, the White House said on Tuesday. JBS is the world’s largest meatpacker and the cyberattack […] Read more


(JBSs.infoinvest.com.br)

JBS Australian, North American servers hacked

Melbourne | Reuters –– Australian and North American units of the world’s largest meat works were hit over the weekend by an organized cyber attack on its information systems, Brazil’s JBS said in a statement. The attack caused its Australian operations to shut down on Monday. The company said it was working to resolve the […] Read more

Barley south of Ethelton, Sask. on July 30, 2019. (Dave Bedard photo)

WTO creates panel in China-Australia barley row

Sydney/Geneva | Reuters — The World Trade Organization (WTO) agreed on Friday to establish a dispute settlement panel to resolve a row over anti-dumping and countervailing duties imposed by China on Australian barley, a trade source attending the meeting said. Australia launched a formal appeal to the WTO last year, seeking a review of China’s […] Read more