It has more than doubled in value this year and is up about 45 per cent since Trump’s sweeping election victory on Nov. 5, which has also seen a slew of pro-crypto lawmakers being elected to Congress.

The cryptocurrency’s gains though were more measured on Friday. After touching a fresh record high above $99,000 BTC=, bitcoin pulled back a touch to trade up just 0.5 per cent on the day, around $98,500.

Still, the momentum for further gains appeared strong with bitcoin poised for a third straight week of plus 10 per cent gains. It is also on track for its best monthly performance since February.

Its surge has made bitcoin one of the stand-out winners of so-called “Trump trades” – assets that are seen as winning or losing from Trump’s policies.

The cryptocurrency also appears on the cusp of mainstream acceptance since its creation 16 years ago.

“The longer it survives it is taken more seriously, that’s just the reality of things,” said Shane Oliver, chief economist and head of investment strategy at AMP Sydney.

“As an economist and investor I find it very hard to value it… it’s anyone’s guess. But it does have a momentum aspect to it and at the moment the momentum is up.”

Indeed, bitcoin is up around 130 per cent this year.

Trump embraced digital assets during his campaign, promising to make the United States the “crypto capital of the planet” and to accumulate a national stockpile of bitcoin.

Crypto investors see an end to increased scrutiny from the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) after Chair Gary Gensler said on Thursday he would step down in January when Trump takes office.

Under Gensler, the SEC sued exchange Coinbase COIN.N, Kraken, Binance and others, alleging that their failure to register with the agency violated SEC rules, accusations the companies deny and are fighting in court.

Still, the approval of U.S.-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds in January this year helped boost the market.

The SEC had long attempted to block ETFs from investing in bitcoin, citing investor protection concerns, but the products have allowed more investors, including institutional investors, to gain exposure to bitcoin.

More than $4 billion has streamed into U.S.-listed bitcoin exchange-traded funds since the election.

U.S.-listed crypto stocks, which have rallied in recent days, were steadier on Friday as the price surge paused.

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The Argentina government launched its latest “soy dollar” plan on Monday to boost dollar inflows from soybean exports and replenish dwindling foreign exchange reserves, in a delicate economic context with annual inflation over 100 per cent.

In the first four days of the program, which offers an exchange rate of 300 pesos (C$1.86) per U.S. dollar for soybean sales — compared to the official rate of 215 pesos per U.S. dollar — producers sold 441,747 tonnes of soybeans, the exchange said.

The figure is well below the volume sold in the first four days of the two previous “soy dollar” plans last year. In the first, last September, 3.1 million tonnes were sold. In the second, in November, sales totaled 1.1 million tonnes.

Emilce Terre, the Rosario exchange’s chief economist, attributed the disappointing numbers to a drought between early last year and March that has caused the current soybean harvest to be estimated at its worst in almost a quarter of a century.

“This latest program finds us in a very different situation (from the previous ones): Yields are the worst in 25 years. The planting area lost is at a record. There are production losses that have produced a worse-than-normal availability of soybeans,” said Terre.

While the two prior “soy dollar” plans traded on the 2021-22 soybean season, which had a harvest of 42.4 million tonnes, the current plan is trading on a harvest projected at 23 million tonnes, according to the exchange.

Last month, the head of the CIARA-CEC chamber of exporters and oilseed producers told Reuters that the sector was in crisis as its idle capacity rate was at its highest level ever due to the drought.

— Reporting for Reuters by Maximilian Heath in Buenos Aires.

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For full-year 2020 its profit was 4.6 billion reais, 87 per cent of which came in the fourth quarter.

In the final quarter of 2020, when food sales are traditionally strong, JBS registered net revenue of 76 billion reais (C$16.65 billion), a 33 per cent rise from the fourth quarter in 2019, with growth in local currency terms registered across all business units.

For full-year 2020, JBS boosted net revenue by 32 per cent to 270 billion reais (C$59.16 billion). In the same filing, JBS said it plans to pay one real per share in dividends in 2021, corresponding to a record 2.5 billion reais.

JBS said in the U.S., where the company derives most of its revenue, beef industry fundamentals remained solid, helping overall financial performance.

Even as JBS grappled with production cuts in the first half of the year related to the coronavirus pandemic, cattle availability and consumer demand bolstered U.S. beef operations, it said.

JBS USA’s beef unit, whose Canadian holdings include the company’s beef slaughter and packing plant at Brooks, Alta. and a case-ready meat plant in Calgary, invested in “increasing exposure to higher value-added products” in 2020.

In Canada, its investments included last summer’s purchase of the Vantage Foods case-ready meat and seafood plant at Belleville, Ont., which serves as an exclusive supplier to the Metro retail grocery chain.

In beef exports, JBS USA said its highlight was “the volume and mix of products exported from the United States and Canada to China, which became the fifth and third largest market for the company’s beef exports, respectively, in 2020.”

On the other hand, the U.S. pork division, which also suffered production cuts amid the pandemic, had a five percentage-point fall in EBITDA margins to 9.1 per cent in the fourth quarter. And as cattle availability remained low in Australia, JBS reported a sharp reduction of its beef production and margins there last year.

China continues as a main sales driver for JBS’s operations in both Brazil and the United States. Overall, the Asian country is the destination of 31 per cent of JBS’s meat exports which totaled $13.6 billion in 2020.

Last year, JBS accounted for more than 50 per cent of total beef exports to China from the United States. At the same time, revenue from exports to China and Hong Kong from JBS’s Brazil beef division rose by 60 per cent in the fourth quarter.

— Reporting for Reuetrs by Ana Mano and Nayara Figueiredo in Sao Paulo. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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After consolidating its U.S. manufacturing this summer into one plant at Willmar, Minn., about 140 km west of Minneapolis, the company said Thursday it will also halt production at Willmar in early 2021.

Buhler, which also has Canadian plants at Winnipeg and Morden, Man. and Vegreville, Alta., said Thursday the Morden plant “will now be the primary source of Farm King production” and other product lines now made at Willmar.

Buhler’s Farm King product lines include include augers, mowers, bale carriers, snowblowers, compact implements and tillage tools. The company’s other product lines include Versatile tractors and sprayers.

The company described the Morden plant, about 110 km southwest of Winnipeg, as “one of the original and most efficient Buhler Industries factories.”

Relocating the U.S.-made Farm King product lines to Morden this winter “will optimize output at that facility while capitalizing on the fluctuations in the exchange rate,” Buhler said.

In its third-quarter financials in August, Buhler had said it faced “unpredictability in the agriculture commodities market and fluctuations in the exchange rate, as dealers in Canada market several U.S.-based Farm King-branded products.”

Farm King dealers in Canada and the U.S. “will not experience delays in delivery of whole goods or service parts” as a result of the move, the company said Thursday.

Buhler has operated at Willmar since 2011, when it bought an existing 135,000-square foot facility and set up production lines there for Versatile sprayers and Farm King application equipment.

Other Farm King work was moved to Willmar this summer as the company wound down operations at its Fargo, N.D. plant and shut the latter facility in late September.

Shutting the Willmar operation also follows “further analysis of trends in agriculture and manufacturing,” Buhler said.

Following a run of four straight quarterly net losses, Buhler in August reported a small Q3 profit of about $462,000 on $76.6 million in sales for its third quarter ending June 30, up from a $1.17 million net loss on $64.1 million in sales in the year-earlier period.

The increase in sales stemmed from a “strong return to the U.S. market,” Buhler said at the time, while sales into Canada and Eastern Europe “remain below historical levels.”

Buhler, majority-owned by Russian harvest equipment maker Rostselmash, said in August it has made “improvements in manufacturing efficiencies,” but found “competitive pressures have led to reduced gross margins.”

Losses on foreign exchange and “decreased gain on the sale of surplus assets” have offset its cuts in research and development spending and lower interest costs, the company said.

The ongoing COVID-19 pandemic “will continue to have an impact on the company as farmers, dealers and governments work through the next stages,” Buhler said, but added management couldn’t provide guidance on that impact. — Glacier FarmMedia Network

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Anderson’s expectations are for the loonie to hit a range of 75-77 U.S. cents, which could see canola drop $5-$10 per tonne.

“The loonie, even though our economy is in bad shape, is going up by ‘osmosis,'” he said, explaining it has far more to do with the decline in the U.S. dollar.

“There’s a move away from the U.S. dollar as the global currency reserve,” Anderson said, noting silver and gold have risen sharply in recent weeks. Gold on Wednesday shot past US$2,000 per ounce for the first time.

The U.S. dollar index, which pits the greenback against six major world currencies, had the U.S. currency below 93.0 as of midday on Wednesday, slipping from about 100.0 at the beginning of summer.

“It’s bothering canola,” Anderson said.

Also, the yield potential for U.S. soybeans poses another challenge to canola futures, he said. Market expectations have pegged record yields of about 54 bushels per acre, and corn could surpass 184 bu./ac.

However, dry conditions in the U.S. are threatening those big yields unless there is rain in the near future.

“Canola is really on its own,” Anderson said.

One factor that helped to support the rise in the canola over the last few weeks has been flooding in southern China, he added. The high water has impeded important shipping lanes, and in turn pushed up prices for edible oils.

Anderson cautioned that floods are only temporary, and the effects of that bump will wear off.

— Glen Hallick reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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“The big thing has been the overall slowdown in ethanol production,” said Tom Lilja of Progressive Ag at Fargo, N.D.

“The country is not driving right now, and demand is significantly low,” he added, noting many ethanol plants were cutting production or closing down completely amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

Weak energy demand was also weighing on soybeans, with softness in the Brazilian real adding to the bearish tone in that market, according to Lilja. The weakness in the country’s currency makes Brazilian soybean exports 20 cents per bushel cheaper than U.S. supplies for July/August delivery. With U.S. beans looking overpriced, the country is missing out on export opportunities.

Wheat has held up a bit better than the row crops, as many end-users look to shore up supplies in the face of the pandemic, said Lilja. Dryness concerns in Russia were also supportive, but he noted that the forecasts were turning more favourable in the region which was weighing on prices.

Looking ahead, dryness concerns in the southern U.S. Plains could help underpin wheat going forward if any yield issues develop. Possible delays to spring wheat seeding in northern growing regions, due to wet fields, will also be followed closely.

Lilja said there was also a possibility that current low prices will cut into soybean and corn acres, as farmers may decide to take prevent-planting benefits instead.

In that scenario, any weather problems during the growing season could spark an exaggerated move in the futures due to the lower acreage base.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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Corn futures climbed early on strong U.S. export sales and an early jump in crude oil prices, but settled only slightly higher than the prior day as oil slid late in the day.

Grains markets largely shrugged off the monthly U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) world agriculture supply and demand estimates (WASDE) report released during Thursday’s session, with many of the agency’s forecasts already largely priced into the market.

The dollar-to-rouble rate fell by 3.2 per cent, strengthening U.S. wheat export prospects, while soybeans benefited from the Brazilian real improving one per cent against the dollar.

“The general support on the grains had more to do with currencies than anything,” said Charlie Sernatinger, global head of grain futures at ED+F MAN Capital Markets. “All of the emerging currencies were strong against the dollar today.”

May soybean futures gained one per cent, the biggest jump since March 23. Soybeans were also strengthened by reports of a smaller Brazilian crop, as Brazil’s CONAB trimmed nearly two million tons off its harvest projection. The U.S. crop still faces record exports from its South American rival.

Wheat futures rose, though gains continued to face headwinds by expectations of a larger U.S. harvest than analysts projected.

The U.S. Agriculture Department reported export sales of old-crop corn in the week ended April 2 at 1,848,900 tonnes, above expectations and a high for the marketing year that began on Sept 1. New-crop sales were a robust 608,800 tonnes.

“It’s kind of disappointing to see us not respond a little better” to the export news, said Rob Hatchett, analyst with Doane Advisory Services. “The demand destruction from ethanol is overshadowing the positives.”

The most-active Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT) soybean contract gained nine cents to $8.63-1/2 per bushel (all figures US$). Its 1.1 per cent weekly increase was the third weekly gain in four weeks.

Corn was 1-3/4 cents higher at $3.31-3/4 a bushel, ending the week up 0.3 per cent. CBOT wheat added 8-1/4 cents to close at $5.56-1/2 a bushel, ending with a 1.3 per cent weekly gain that was its third weekly increase in four weeks.

Corn futures slid recently as the COVID-19 coronavirus disrupted demand for ethanol, a significant market for the grain. U.S. ethanol plants have shuttered as people avoid travel to limit the spread of the virus.

— Reporting for Reuters by Christopher Walljasper in Chicago; additional reporting by P.J. Huffstutter and Julie Ingwersen in Chicago, Naveen Thukral in Singapore and Sybille de La Hamaide in Paris.

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However, volatility and uncertainty are expected to remain the feature in the upcoming weeks.

Any strength in canola “is 100 per cent the Canadian dollar and nothing else,” said Ken Ball, of PI Financial in Winnipeg. “There’s no buying going on in canola outside of that.”

The Canadian dollar dropped below 69 U.S. cents on Wednesday, trading at levels not seen since 2003, as currency traders bailed out of most markets in favour of the perceived safe haven of the U.S. dollar.

While the weaker Canadian dollar was supportive on paper, it only provides so much support in reality, as commercial traders usually have currency rates locked in already, Ball said.

“The odds (of the grain markets) going anywhere in this environment are extremely small.”

Ball expected see more volatility in the canola market as trade thins out and investors move to the sidelines to await developments in the COVID-19 pandemic.

The May canola contract settled Wednesday at $457.40 per tonne, about $13 off of the contract low hit only two days earlier.

— Phil Franz-Warkentin reports for MarketsFarm from Winnipeg.

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“I had a phone conversation a few moments ago with Donald Trump. … He was convinced by my arguments and decided to tell all Brazilians that our steel and aluminum will not be hit by additional tariffs,” Bolsonaro said during a Facebook live video session.

A U.S.-based source familiar with the call confirmed Friday afternoon that Trump had told the Brazilian president the tariffs would not be levied.

Trump announced the tariffs on Brazil and Argentina in a tweet on Dec. 2, accusing the two countries of devaluating their currencies which hurt U.S. farmers.

— Reporting for Reuters by Eduardo Simoes.

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Tariffs on chicken and processed chicken meat, almonds, grapes, wheat, pork and potatoes are all earmarked for reductions, in order to rebalance bilateral trade, the ministry said in a statement on its website.

Vietnam has emerged as one of the largest beneficiaries of the trade spat between Washington and Beijing but it is concerned that it could be U.S. President Donald Trump’s next target.

Vietnam’s trade surplus with the United States hit US$38.4 billion in the first 10 months of 2019, up 33.66 per cent from a year ago, customs data showed.

The Southeast Asia country is at risk of being labelled a currency manipulator by the Washington because of its trade surplus with the country, a highly positive current account balance and because its central bank has been quite active in terms of net foreign exchange purchases.

The statement said the ministry has proposed reducing the tariff on chicken to 18 per cent from 20, while the United States is expecting to see it cut to 14.5 per cent next year and eliminated in 2028.

“This tariff cut is in line with our commitment in the first year of the Comprehensive and Progressive Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP),” the ministry said.

“The proposed rate of the U.S. will be taken into consideration.”

CPTPP member countries, including Canada, have received favourable tariff rate access to the Vietnamese market through the multilateral trade pact, which continued without the U.S. after Trump exited the partnership in 2017. The CPTPP pact came into force in Vietnam in mid-January this year.

Import tariffs on fresh apples and grapes from the U.S. are expected to be cut to eight per cent, on wheat to three per cent, on potatoes to 12 per cent, and on pork to 22 per cent, which are all equivalent to Vietnam’s commitment to tariff cuts in the CPTPP, the ministry added.

The United States has suggested tariffs on apples, grapes and wheat should be abolished next year.

— Reporting for Reuters by Phuong Nguyen in Hanoi. Includes files from Glacier FarmMedia Network staff.

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